Clash of the Elements Part 4 EX Story 7: Maverick Hunter X6
by mewmaster93
Summary: In the aftermath of the Eurasia Incident, a scarred Earth and it's inhabitants are trying their best to recover. But thanks to the emergence of a mysterious Nightmare Virus, and a strange clone of Zero, humanity and Reploids once again face the threat of extinction. Determined to stop this threat, X and Shina seek to uncover the truth behind its creation...
1. Chapter 1

" _I hope you did not miss me."_

" _Has it already been three weeks?"_

" _For you, maybe."_

" _Heh, you never get tired of wordplay, do you, old friend?"_

" _Fufufu, it is far more enticing than foreplay, wouldn't you agree?"_

" _Yes. For me, your intellect is a far more attractive attribute than your figure."_

" _Hmmm, should I take that as a compliment or not?"_

" _Do with it as you wish, but we have more important matters to attend to."_

" _Well..._ _ **I**_ _do, anyways."_

" _...A pity, but I suppose my time will come soon enough. The wait_ _ **is**_ _starting to become quite maddening though."_

" _What is another few months compared to the last two-thousand years?"_

" _Hahaha, a fair point. Though, on the subject of madness, I am reminded of an analogy I've come up with."_

" _Really now? Do tell, I am all ears."_

" _Madness in a person...Is like a termite inside the trunk of a tree. At first it gnaws away at the insides, carving a small but harmless path through, but if left unchecked it begins to grow and multiply. Eventually, what was once an insignificant tick is now an all-consuming swarm, and in time the innards will be completely burrowed through until the body ceases to be anything more than a hollow shell unable to burden the weight of it all. Thus the body ceases to function as it once did, only serving as food for the famined swarm."_

" _And at that point, not even death can save them."_

" _Madness can be either a curse or a blessing...It just depends on how willing you are to be in a symbiotic relationship with it. But deep down, every living thing carries madness within them. There_ _ **is**_ _no escape from it."_

" _So what do you think? Will that boy be consumed? Or will he accept his own madness?"_

" _We can only wait and see now, I'm afraid."_

" _Fufufu, fair enough. But for now, there is another matter I must observe..."_

" _Ah, yes. Then I shall see you again real soon, old friend."_

… _._

… _._

Deep inside of a secret laboratory, a lone Reploid stood at his computer overlooking a single but crucial piece of hardware. A series of tiny pincers and claws nipped away at the finer cords and CPUs that rested inside the hardware, taking care not to break them. The Reploid's gloved hands were trembling with anticipation, and his teeth were bitten down like he was struck with a severe case of frostbite.

"Almost there...I have almost unlocked the secrets of Zero's DNA...!" He couldn't get rid of the smile he had, which stretched from cheek to cheek. With a dissecting laser pinced between two right fingers, the Reploid made a clean cut through the bottom of the glass plating so one of the claws could pull it up. Underneath lied a complex criss-cross of cybernetics, with a lens that pulsated with a violet, wavy light.

"This is...This is it!" The Reploid slammed their device flat underneath their palm and gripped the edges of the computer desk he worked at. A pale, almost malicious influence gushed out of the hardware like a midsummer's breeze, rustling back the lab coat the Reploid wore.

"What I've been searching for all this time...Finally...Finally it's secrets are mine and mine alone!" The Reploid's eager pupils shrank down, focusing only on the center of the hardware. His hands trembled only until the point where they gripped the sides of the hardware, where they then stiffened right up as they raised it before the chest.

"It's so...so beautiful. This...this must be what pure and utter **satisfaction** feels like. With this, I can finish my research...I can complete the Ultimate Reploid...!" The Reploid's ecstasy neared a point that he had difficulty breathing, and his hands once again began trembling. Then, as his irises burned with a dark red haze, the Reploid's smile rose into a smirk.

"Yes...I feel...I feel so..." Throwing his arms out with his head leaned back as though basking in a warm, steamy shower, the Reploid let out a heavy gasp and condensed all his overflowing emotions into a single word, " _Liberated...!_ "

"Hahaha...Hahaha...! HAHAHAHA!" Embracing the glee for all it was worth, the Reploid known as Gate let his laughter echo throughout the hollow confines of his laboratory, and soon the world at large would become fully aware of the terrors his indulgences will call forth into existence.

The Nightmares...have begun!

 **CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EX STORY 7:**

 **MAVERICK HUNTER X6**

 **Chapter 1: The Nightmare Awakens**

 _It has been three weeks since the fall of Eurasia forever changed the state of the world. The Earth's surface has been covered by toxins too venomous for humans to go near, and thus they have all been forced into hiding underground while the Reploids are left to clean up._

 _The Maverick Hunters have been tasked to lead the operations on the surface, acting as both mediators and workers for the many construction and clean-up crews across the world. Though they are relegated to these jobs, their main mission of hunting down Mavericks has not changed. Even though the Sigma Virus has disappeared from the face of the Earth, there are still many Mavericks who seek to take advantage of the chaos by any means necessary._

 _Terrorist activities are on the decline, but other organized crime has only multiplied in it's place. With all the wide-scale thievery and slavery happening across the world, the Maverick Hunters have found themselves in a bit of a bind trying to deal with it all. Their numbers are at an all-time low, and the loss of one of their strongest Hunters has hit them more than they realized. Though the otherworlder known as Shina Aurora has tried her best to help while she's stuck on this world, she is still only just one person._

 _Even X, sharpened by the strength of his new resolve, has difficulty keeping up with the chaos that's sweeping the planet. Every day that he takes up the Z-Saber and goes into battle, he comes home hoping, praying that the world will one day know peace..._

 _ **Dawn of the third week in the post-Eurasia world...**_

It is very quiet in the Maverick Hunter HQ these days. Not out of any hard-fought peace or something like that, but because most of the Hunters have vacated the premises to take care of assignments. It's very likely that a Reploid could wander into the base right now and not even run into one single Hunter by the time they've walked all the way to the top. The only constant in the base are the presences of Alia and Signas, who worked tirelessly throughout the days and nights.

But right now, X and Shina were at the base to recharged their energy after a long day of constant Maverick hunting. Shina was given her own room and healing pod to the left of X's, and for now she rested comfortably inside said capsule. Her hands, resting upon the direct center of her stomach, signified a blissful sleep.

With a quiet snore, Shina wore a constant smile as she drifted into the deepest recesses of her subconscious. But her mind wasn't blessed with visions of sugar plums or the breying of hopping sheep, but rather by a rhythmic ticking similar to that of an old time clock.

Her body took upon a hazy, monochrome tint as it floated through a sea of mist with a neon hue to it, falling and falling like a crisp autumn leaf towards a rift of light. Her awareness of the descent only seemed to increase once her body passed through the light and touched down upon a grassy knoll. Then her eyelids pulled right open, and she swung her hands out to prop herself right off the ground. The grass was cold, and each individual blade had tickled the back of her neck like a frozen feather.

Looking towards the sky, she saw that it was a starry night. Her brief panic melted away with a smile, and she pulled herself up and tucked her lithe arms behind her back to observe the stars.

"What a beautiful night for star-gazing...Even if it's just in a dream."

As she became so absorbed in observing the stars that her eyes twinkled from the reflection of their light, the sound of a car motor approaching almost failed to snatch her attention. With a glance to the left, Shina puckered her lips and let out a brief, curious hum as the headlights of a black four-wheeler flashed her way.

Widening her eyes like a deer would, she hopped back as the car was seconds away from ramming it's bumper right into her kneecaps. Once she landed she hastily shook her head and wondered, _"Wait, why did I do that? This is just a..."_

She looked down at her feet, and saw that they did not cast a shadow on the edge of the headlights.

"...Dream?" Blinking twice and then giving her puffy cheeks a couple quick pats, Shina watched as nothing changed, then proceeded to let out a frazzled groan, "Uuuungh, not again..."

Her voice, which had just a moment ago been filled with joy, was now deflated of all pleasure and sounded just as tired as someone waking up from a deep night slumber. Then, the click of the car doors unlocking entered her ears, and she turned to watch as a couple pulled themselves out.

The driver was a man almost six-feet tall with a shaved head and a face that didn't look a day over thirty. His eyes were a dark shade of brownish orange, and his cheeks and chin were scruffied up by thin hairs. His skin looked grimy and roughened up, and his foul odor reached Shina's nose in a dilluted form. The man looked as though he had cobbled up a wardrobe on the fly, as his cotton black shirt was covered in rugged patches that looked like they came from rugs. His jeans, on the other hand, were kept in tatters, and his feet left bare.

The passenger was a woman that was just under five feet tall, with blue hair that reached to the back of her knees and glistened like the surface of the ocean when viewed at underwater during a hot summer day. Her arms and legs were almost as thin as cedar tree branches, and her body looked famished. Even so, her cheeks were rosy and full of warmth, and the rest of her skin had a pinkish shade similar to the hue of cherry blossoms. Clothed in a thin aquamarine dress and skirt with a lilac woven vest draped over it, this woman topped off her ensemble with a necklace that had a butterfly carved out of wood and a bracelet with a curious stone attached to it.

When the two shut the car doors, the woman brushed her hand along the fogged up back window to clear it up and peered inside, her facing looking even warmer as she smiled. But then her eyes dampened, the ducts filling with tears until the man approached her from the left and brushed them away with swipe of the pointer finger. He then cupped his hand on the shoulder and whispered, "We already said our goodbyes dear..."

"Look at him Abraham. He's just a little boy...H-How can we go through with this?"

The man laid his hands on both shoulders and helped turn her around to face him. His face was like iron, strong and unmoving, but his eyes were delicate and already trickling with forming, tiny droplets.

"We have no other choice. If we let Prometheus capture us, you know what'll happen to your people, Lumina."

Shina raised her brows and then got closer to the couple, entranced not just by their words but the bracelet the woman wore. Engrossed in her own thoughts, Shina raised her own bracelet and gave it a rub, remarking with an inquiring murmur, "That looks just like my own..."

Looking up at the woman's face from the side, Shina tilted her head and repeated her name, "Lumina...Lumina...Have I...heard that name before?"

After a sniffle from the woman, the two turned and made their way past the car, her left hand barely making it to edge of his waist while his own right hand reached under her right armpit and held her close by. Shina wanted to follow the two, but after taking a couple steps bit her lower lip and went back for the car. She peered into the back, and saw a five-year old boy with just a thin brushel of brown hair atop his head. He was tucked in under a woven blanket that spanned one side of the car to the other, looking so snug that it'd take probably the largest of earthquakes just to rattle him awake.

His peaceful, quiet demeanor brought a smile to Shina's face, but it was rather half-baked one from her all things considered. Pulling away from the window and crossing her arms under the chest as the cold winds crept up on her skin, she wondered about her predicament while staring towards the nearby hilltop the couple had gone to.

" _I keep having these visions lately...But why? I don't even know any of these people..."_ Closing her eyes and trying to come up with an answer was a fruitless effort. She was simply just dealing with phenomenon far beyond her understanding.

"...Hmmm?" Sensing a source of great power rapidly approaching, Shina perked her head up and saw a heavenly light descending from the sky. With blinding speed, a ball of white fire crashed into the exact spot the couple was standing, as Shina could only watch on with complete and utter shock.

" **EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"**

Shina shot upright at the sound of the sirens blaring and smashed her head against the pane of glass in her capsule hard enough to crack it. Rubbing her head afterwards as the glass decompressed to open up, she felt her 'heart' racing against her chest as she laid her left palm upon her resting place, reassuring herself that everything was back to normal.

The sirens kept going even as she groaned and grumbled her way out of the capsule, performing a quick stretch as the weariness of her disrupted rest caught up and dragged her eyelids down. As her arms slumped down by the waist and wiggled back and forth for a bit, she looked up at the ceiling and listened in as Alia's voice filtered through the speakers.

" _X! Shina! I need you both in the command center immediately!"_

In the face of any crisis Alia could be counted on to keep her cool, even as her voice echoed out louder than the sirens. After smacking her lips a couple times, Shina regained her focus and prepared to rush out the door. But before she made it underneath the doorframe her feet kicked up and her heels grinded up against the cold steel floors until she stopped. Doing a complete 180, Shina made a brisk stroll over to the pristine steel table beside the capsule and looked down upon a certain amber sword.

Peering at her own reflection for a couple seconds, her brows then slanted down as she picked it up and put it on her back, using a strap of aura to hold it firmly in place.

" _It's been three weeks since the fall of Eurasia..."_ With a stern glare Shina jerked her head back and then spun the rest of her body around, making up for her delay by doubling her speed out the door. As she turned and made her way down the hall, her mind began to be weighed down with a multitude of nagging concerns.

" _And there hasn't been a single trace of Alex..."_ With her head hung an inch lower, Shina recalled the last time she had seen him. It was painful to remember his repulsive, corrupted appearance, but since it was the last thing she remembered of him it was the moment that stuck out the most in her mind.

" _...Where are you Alex?"_ Shina considered the possibility that Alex may have just left the planet entirely to prevent his other personality from slaughtering everyone, but then out of a severe denial she shook her head and tried to remain optimistic.

" _No. He IS out there, he has to be!"_

" _...Still, it's already been three weeks. There's still plenty of time to get the final artifact piece back, but...At this rate I'll run out of time if I lax off for even a moment!"_

The possibility that Alex has left the world. The possibility that he may never be found even if he's still on this world. The possibility of failure to assemble the artifact. The possibility that she may be stuck on this world forever, joining X in his eternal war against Maverick kind.

Dozens of possibilities, all existing to punish Shina for even the slightest failure, weighed heavily on her conscience and slowed the pace of her run to a steady crawl. But with a swift raise of the hand she slapped herself across the face twice like she was waving a fan and then bluntly told herself off, _"No! There's no time to mope around! Alex needs me!"_

Reaching the door to the command center, Shina raised her head up high and puffed her chest out with determination as the doors slid open, _"Today's a new day! Maybe I'll find a clue out in the field_ _ **this**_ _time..."_

Walking into the room, Shina found that in spite of her rush to get there X had already arrived ahead of him and was at Alia's desk. Zero's inactive Z-Saber was glued to the back and didn't budge with the movements he made. After rushing over to the two, Shina called out with a chipper, eager voice, "Here I am Alia! What's the situation?"

X pulled away from her chair and let her turn around, her headset latched around the cranium and the mic pinched between her fingers so it was held in front of the mouth. With a her expression just a tiny bit concerned, Alia tilted her head and remarked, "I know this is sudden, but I need you two to go and investigate the Crash Site. There's been some reports from our men down there of possible Maverick activity in the area."

"Maverick activity? There? What could they want?" Shina pondered.

"Well, we'll find out once we get there. I'm ready to go whenever you are Shina." X remarked with a voice unclouded by hesitation as he passed a smile on to her.

"Don't let me hold you up X, I'll be right behind ya!" Shina perked her lips up into a smile and gave him a nod.

"I've already set the coordinates. Be careful you there, both of you." Alia went back to typing away at her computer, and X ran right for the door out of the room after giving his thanks. Shina was about to join him, but a sudden comment from Alia caught her by the legs before they even raised.

"Have you had any luck finding your friend?"

Shina glanced over her shoulder and then spun her body around, answering with an averting gaze and a penetrating sigh, "Nooo...I haven't found a single clue yet."

"I wish I could provide you more aid. But that blade of his...It's way outside my area of expertise."

Shina poked her head back and pulled the blade out of the strap, holding it before the chest. She didn't know it's origins, how it operated, or if it even had a name. And if **she** knew none of these things, then not even someone as brilliant as Alia could've been expected to crack the mystery behind it. Putting the blade back in it's place, Shina tried to put on a smile for Alia as she reassured her, "You tried your best Alia, and that means a lot to me."

"...Thanks." Alia murmured, her voice almost inaudible to the girl.

"It's a shame though. That blade's energies would've been our best shot at finding him, since he appears to be projecting a constant EMP field to block out our scanners and cameras."

"Heh, guess I can always count on Alex to be seclusive..." Shina tried to joke, but only made herself sad. After hanging her head for a moment, she raised it up and ran out the door after X, not wanting to keep him waiting any longer. Once at the teleporter room she hopped onto one of the capsules, and Alia's programming took care of the rest. The magic of being warped across great distances in an instant had been lost, but the fuzzy sensation that swept over her body still stuck around once she arrived at her destination.

The Crash Site was different from the last time she had been there. Now all the debris had been pushed closer together so it'd be easier to manage, creating a landscape that served as a perfect reminder of what had been lost. The sky was a volatile mix of orange and violet, and the sun's light passed through with a reddish haze. This place, this graveyard, had no place on the Earth.

Looking up, Shina saw X at the top of a slanted piece of metal performing a quick survey of the area. Running to the base of the hill, Shina swung her right hand up and proclaimed, "Any luck up there X?"

X turned around and slid down the hill, landing to the left of Shina after pacing a couple steps to keep his balance. After he shook his head, Shina crossed her arms under the chest and remarked, "Alia I know you're listening, do ya got any leads?"

" _The workers out here said the Maverick was big. More than likely it's a rogue Mechanoloid. If it's still going on a rampage, you should find it by wandering around a bit."_

"Thanks, we'll take it from here Alia." X remarked, then turned around and summoned his right buster.

" _Wait. Stay right where you are X. I have a gift for you."_

"Huh?" X looked down as his body was surrounded by a blue light so pale it was almost white. After a brief flash he was now equipped with his Falcon Armor, which had been patched up perfectly. As X looked it over, Alia talked about the armor for a bit.

" _I couldn't fully repair the flight function, but I was able to modify the buster so you'll be able to charge your special weapons. Plus it comes equipped with a thin air barrier to protect you from the heavy toxins in this area."_

Shina tilted her head to the left and had a bit of a frown, causing Alia to remark, _"I didn't have time to make one for you, Shina."_

"Aw schucks, it's ok!" Shina tapped the Gunslinger Drive on her bracelet to transform, then surrounded herself with a barrier of aura as thin as a leaf, "I can protect myself juuuuust fine."

" _Don't underestimate the toxins you two. We've had reports of Reploids being brought in for repairs because they couldn't handle working in these conditions."_

X and Shina began to wade their way through the sea of junk to try and find their target, along the way getting into a conversation with Alia about the afforementioned 'conditions'.

"So...the first step towards cleaning up the planet is to cut off the toxins at the source, ya?"

" _Correct. If we can set up a quarantine zone around the perimeter of the Crash Site, the toxins will have nothing to feed off of and eventually dissolve"_

"How long will that take?" X wondered.

" _Who knows. It could take weeks, months, maybe even a year. It all depends on how much the other Reploids are willing to cooperate with us."_

"And that's not even getting into the reconstruction..." Shina murmured, worrying about the planet's state of affairs.

"I hope the humans can hold out that long." X said, his concerned nature coming right to the forefront.

" _Don't worry, we're sending whatever provisions we can scavenge down to the underground shelters. After all, not like we need to eat or drink."_ Alia reassured them.

"Whew!" Shina breathed a heavy sigh as she swung her head back a bit, "That's a relief!"

After pushing through the thicket of junk in their path, the two wandered upon a structure that had managed to survive the brunt of the collision with the planet. Not wanting to spare even a single inch from their search, the two climbed up to the door and dislodged it from the frame to head inside. X raised his buster before the waist while Shina held her pistols at the hips, the two slowly making their way through the dimly lit building.

The walls were torn apart, and nothing looked worth salvaging. This place would have been better served rusting away until it was forgotten, especially in X's eyes. After reaching a more open hallway, the two glanced left and saw a faint red light staring down at them through a thicket of blinking blue ones. X raised his buster towards the red light for a few seconds but then lowered it, unable to perceive it as a threat.

Shina looked up at that same light a bit longer, creeped out by how much the light resembled an eye. With an ugly, sneering grimace, Shina turned away from the sight and ran to catch up with X. Things were quiet, too quiet, to the point that the metallic clanging of their footsteps was beginning to grate on both their nerves. With one eye looking back while the other kept forward, X inquired, "Are you doing ok, Shina?"

"H-Huh?" She responded in a hastened fluster, then smiled and bobbed her head up and down a couple times, "Yeah, I'm fine!"

"I was just curious," X shifted his gaze back ahead, "You looked restless when you walked into the command center."

"Oh...you noticed," Shina murmured, then after tapping the side of her head with the lip of her pistol she closed her eyes and said, "...I-I've been having these strange visions ever since we defeated Sigma."

"Strange visions?"

"Yeah. It's kind of like, oh I don't know...I'm stuck in a theatre, and some events from the past are unfolding on screen. I can't interact with what's happening, but I'm definitely witnessing them," Shina pulled her pistol away and shook her head, putting on a half-cocked smile before apologizing, "I'm sorry X...All this must be flying right over your head."

"Actually, it isn't." X turned his head back all the way to assure her he was giving his full attention.

"After the Repliforce War, I began to experience the memories of my predecessor, Rock. I...saw the world through his eyes, experienced bits of his life. It was like we were one in the same..."

"And then it turned out ya were." Shina remarked.

"Yeah. Maybe that's what's happening to you. You're connecting with someone from the past."

"Ya think so?" Shina bobbed her head to the left, "I dunno...It doesn't **feel** like I know any of the people in my visions. Except..."

Once her raised was steadied she lifted her bracelet up and poked the rim of it, "There's this woman with the same bracelet I have in a couple of the visions. These kinda bracelets are Aurian exclusives."

Lowering her arm and shaking her head, she continued with heavy doubts towards her own thoughts, "It's just too weird. It's like an out-of-body experience while I'm still in my body..."

"I found out the truth about my visions eventually, I'm sure you will too." X remarked, so confident in his faith towards his comrade that he smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

"Thanks X," Shina laid a hand atop her chest and her expression molded into the perfect smile, "I'm not any closer to solving this mystery, but ya gave me a lot to think about."

The conversation passed the time quite well, as the two arrived at the other side of this deserted facility. The desolate outdoors became more clear once again, only this time the two could see the largest parts of the fallen colony very close by. But the sight of that would have to be ignored, as there was a more pressing matter to attend to on the ground in front of them.

At least seven Hunter-class Reploids were on the ground, damaged but not in danger of dying quite yet. Only one had the strength to move, but just managed to budge their body a couple inches up before collapsing flat against the cracked rock.

With a wide-eyed gasp, X rushed to the aid of the conscious Hunter and propped his body up onto his knees, declaring to him all the while, "Hey, are you alright?"

"Y-You're...X?" The Hunter's voice was groggy, like he had swallowed grinded up pebbles. With a few rough hacking noises, the Hunter clutched his metallic chest and hung his head in shame, "I-I'm sorry sir...We were...ambushed...by a Mechanoloid."

"Which way did it go?"

"It...it didn't...go anywhere..."

"What?"

"X! Above you!" Shina blurted out as her scouter began beeping like crazy. X jerked his head up then wrapped his arms around his fellow Hunter, dragging them away from harm with an abounding leap as a hefty machine crashed against the ground and upheaved a cloud of dust. X reached for the handle of the Z-Saber and whipped it forward, summoning it's blade with enough force to part the dust to clear his vision on the enemy.

The Mechanoloid was a construction-type, judging by it's large left pincer and thick armor frame designed to support at least a couple tons worth of weight. With a green and yellow color scheme, the Mechanoloid was far more pleasant to look at than it's surroundings, even if said machine appeared to be broken and deactivated. But the Mechanoloid wasn't alone. A second later a small orb-shaped pod with a rounded bronze-like plate in the front, focusing a signal beam upon the antenna of the Mechanoloid.

The insides of the Mechanloid rattled as it rose off the ground, it's movements clunky and puppet-like. But with a couple loud snaps of it's single claw, the machine's destructive intents were as clear as day. X held the Z-Saber along the front of his chest and held the Hunter out behind him as he declared, "Shina! Get our allies to safety, I'll handle this berserk Mechanoloid!"

"I'm on it!" Shina leaned forward and wrapped the Hunter up in her arms, nodding her head and then springing away with the speed of a bunny. The safety of his comrades assured, X sharpened his gaze on the Mechanoloid's body, observing it's data in under a second before realizing the pod was the more important target to focus on.

The Mechanoloid swept it's claw back and forth along the ground, X leaping away from every strike while raising his left buster up for a charged shot. As his heels grinded up the ground upon landing, X fired off a piercing shot straight towards the core of the pod. Despite it's simplistic design, the pod was no fool, and evaded the attack with a simple shift to the left.

But the Mechanoloid was sluggish, it's girth barely supported by the jets on it's back. Glancing back, X's attention was caught by the ledge he and Shina had dropped down from, and he hopped right back up to it to get a better vantage point of attack. His feet stayed on the edge of the ledge for just a second, but that was more than enough time for the Mechanoloid to fire a projectile off from it's forehead towards his location. X backflipped in the nick of time, the ball of blue fire erupting into a smoking hot pillar in his wake.

With a quick turnaround X held on tight to the Z-Saber and thrust his body forward, using the jets on his boots to rocket straight towards the pod. The Mechanoloid's claw was raised to get in X's path with pincers spread thin, but with his blade grasped in both hands against the chest X scraped through the claw without a scratch. Widening his eyes with a fierce fire burning within, X sliced the Z-Saber out with all his might in the right hand and cleaved straight through the pod. With a twisting spiral, X managed to land on his feet right as the pod's connection to the Mechanoloid broke. The titanic machine crashed to the ground, it's jets becoming dislodged right as X locked the deactivated Z-Saber onto his back.

"Mission accomplished." X turned his head to the right and began walking towards Shina and the other Hunters, who have all been gathered up under the sanctity of a stable outcrop of metal benders. Shina was applying her aura to the Hunters' bodies to heal them up, and the one that warned X of the threat looked up with a more energetic air around him.

"Wow...so that's the strength of an S-Class Hunter? Seven B-Class Hunters couldn't even put a dent in that thing, and he took it out in one attack..."

"Well X **is** the best he is at what he does, and what he does ain't pretty sometimes..." Shina remarked with a chipper tone, pulling her hands away from that Reploid and giving them a swift clap.

"There you go, you should be all better now!"

"Thanks...Uuuugh, why did that Mechanoloid go out-of-control? Now the construction team'll be set back even more..."

Shina tilted her head and then looked towards X, but as she did so her eyes perked up as she heard the subtle moans of the Mechanoloid whirring back to life.

"X! Watch out!" She screamed, leaping right to her feet and aiming both her pistols at the damaged pod, which hovered itself behind the hobbling girth of it's puppet. Shina clicked her tongue and bite her teeth into a scowl as the pod went out of range.

" _Shoot! I'm not going to stop it in time!"_

The Mechanoloid spun around with one heavy swing, ready to smash it's claw right into X's body. X turned around and began to reach for the Z-Saber, but then clenched his hand up into a fist and thrust it out to transform it into a buster instead. He began charging, but required three seconds to have enough power to repel the claw, whereas the claw only needed two to ram into him.

That one second of hesitation caused X to scowl in frustration towards himself, especially was the claw was just a few inches from striking him with all it's might.

"Begone."

X froze up as a voice spoke out from beyond, followed by a flash of light with an appearance similar to a lightning bolt splitting down the skies above the Mechanoloid. The hulking machine stiffened with it's claw just a centimeter from X's body, then it was cleaved right down the center in a clean, precise cut, the two halves collapsing to the ground and opening the way for X to see who was reponsible.

He couldn't believe his eyes, even though the truth was staring him right in the face.

"Z-Zero...?" Just from the shadow of the figure alone, X knew who his savior was. But as the dirt and dust parted to the four winds, X saw that there was more to this person than meets the eye. This 'Zero' did not have his crimson, heroic colors, instead carrying an odd violet hue that made him look like a walking cloud of toxin. The sword he carried was a rushed together replica of the Z-Saber, complete with a seething lilac blade. And when 'Zero' turned his head and blance back, his red eyes were hollow and devoid of all emotions.

X and 'Zero' looked at each other for a good minute with complete and utter silence. X lowered his buster, and his mind was drawing a blank for words. Then, with a brutal "Hmph!" this 'Zero' commented in a rough and vicious tone, "So this is the ultimate robot X, huh? ...How pathetic."

"W-What?"

And then, just like that, 'Zero' disappeared in the blink of an eye, warping away via a flash of raw light. X took a couple steps forward and was shocked to find his hand raised up towards the horizon. As it began to shake, he clenched it into a fist and lowered it back down.

"That was...No...It couldn't have been..." X's stare went blank and lifeless. He had seen Zero die. There was nothing left of him in this world.

"...That...That had to have been an impostor..." X shook his head and tried to relax with a deep breath.

" _What's going on here...? The data readings are similar to Zero's, but..."_

"We'll...worry about this later Alia. We need to bring the Hunters back to base to get them repaired." X remarked, and began to turn around to face the other Reploids. Shina walked up to X with a few quick steps and inquired, "Are you alright?"

"...I'm fine." X averted his gaze from Shina's own and looked towards the sky. Shina closed her eyes and examined X's aura, finding that it was shaking only a tiny bit. But upon performing this examination, Shina found another source of power descending towards them to the north.

"Huh?" Shina perked her head up, and X caught wind of that and turned around. High wind pressure pushed against the ground and spread a cloud of dust and toxins in all directions, with X and Shina covering their faces as the one responsible stopped a foot above the ground.

The new presence was a Reploid with a large and imposing figure made almost entirely out of pure onyx metal, with just a bit of yellow and white to differentiate it's appearance. His body looked without flaw, and with hollow triangular eyes and a neutral face it was clear that the Reploid was dedicated only to one given task.

"So, Zero was here...I knew it." The Reploid's voice was deep and stoic, with a slight robotic tic to it.

"Who are you?!" X demanded without hesitation.

The Reploid's head let loose a loud creak as he bent it to face X, "You are...The Ultimate Robot...X."

"...You know who I am?"

"I am High-MAX...The Ultimate Reploid...And your superior..." The Reploid spoke, a tiny smirk appearing on his face for a moment, "I am investigating...The Zero Nightmare..."

"What did you say?! The Zero Nightmare?!" X exclaimed.

"You saw him...didn't you? What is your connection...?"

"Don't try and play dumb! You know what's going on here!" X aimed his right buster and gripped onto the elbow, charging a shot up while exclaiming, "I don't know where you came from, but we're taking you in for questioning!"

"I was warned of how dangerous you are...but all I see is a weakling. It was not my mission, but I shall dispose of you swiftly..." High-MAX's body released some steam as he began to parted his arms outward, only for his chest to be struck straight on by X's charged shot.

The Reploid flinched, and the impact left steam percolating from the skin for just a moment. High-MAX then pushed back upright, revealing that there wasn't even a dent in his systems.

"...Futile." High-MAX raised his right hand and unleashed a swarm of four electric orbs that homed in on X's location. Shina ran in front of him and blocked the attacks with a barrier of aura, but each strike pushed her back and eventually cracked the shield to pieces.

She whipped her pistols out and turned them into SMGs, assaulting High-MAX's chest with a bombardment of at least one-hundred bullets. High-MAX floated forward as slow as a normal tank, not even wincing from the flashes of light the bullets' impact caused.

Shina glanced down at her guns then stalled their fire with a flick of the wrist, flipping back over X as he drew the Z-Saber and leapt straight at High-MAX with a violent slash. The Reploid clamped his hands together and caught the blade with ease.

"...Futile."

X swung his other hand in an arch past High-MAX's hands and rammed the buster point-blank into his face, firing a charged shot right away. However, the energy recoiled into the buster and cracked it at the lip, then proceeded to fill with a thick plume of smoke. X widened his eyes and pulled his fried hand back, with High-MAX letting go of the blade a moment after.

X dropped but landed on a platform of aura Shina made for him, and without a moment's hesitation he put the Z-Saber on his back and lunged at High-MAX with a series of punches. He smashed into his chest with one-hundred percent of his strength channeled into each blow, but all he managed to do was wear down _his_ knuckles.

X hung his hands at the hips as pain shot through his arms. High-MAX held his palms side-by-side before X's face and began charging electricity into a condensed blue and yellow orb.

"Death Ball..."

"Ghhh...!" X grit his teeth and tried to raise his buster up, but Shina foiled his bravado by dispelling the platform he was on and then firing a rocket straight at the Death Ball the moment it was lost. The two attacks collided and blew up, the smoke being sucked into a collapsing void of electricity. High-MAX then looked down at his two opponents and floated a bit back as X tried to sneak a charged shot at his face.

"These are the Reploids that defeated Sigma? Disappointing...It is not worth my time to crush Reploids that I have already far surpassed." High-MAX boasted quietly.

"We're just getting started!" Shina exclaimed, whipping a pair of rocket launchers out at her hips.

"I see no need to bother with you any further. We will be the ones to destroy the Zero Nightmare...Stay out of our way." High-MAX kicked his boosters into high gear and rocketed towards the sky, disappearing from sight in only five seconds.

"Wait!" X ran to the spot underneath where the strange Reploid was and swung an arm towards the air, then found his hand clenching into a shaking fist as his frustration reached a boiling point.

"Tsk...!" X smashed his fist out to the left and collapsed a ten foot tall pile of heavy junk with ease, growling out his frustrations to himself, "Zero Nightmare...? High-MAX...? What's going on around here?!"

"X..." Shina murmured in concern, unable to muster up any other words of encouragement. Then, with a couple timely beeps, Alia contacted the two of them with a rather frazzled tone.

" _X! Shina! Something's going on in Abel City...!"_

"Another Maverick attack?!" X exclaimed.

" _No...Here, I'm sending you a direct broadcast of the footage now."_

With quick thinking, Alia managed to hack into a nearby camera on the ground that by some miracle functioned just enough to serve her ends. Using it to flash a televised view of the center of Abel City, X and Shina observed as a group of Reploids stood around one that stood by themselves atop a pile of building rubble. This lone Reploid was a scientist, judging by his pure white lab coat, and with a metallic yellow tie buttoned to his chest he appeared to fancy himself a gentleman too. His head was quite oddly shaped, having a horizontal cylinder attached to the back of his skull and a smaller one of those dangling from the chin, representing a goatee. His eyes were shaped the same as High-MAX's, but were pure red and conjoined to some horned eyebrows.

It was probably unwise to make rash judgments based on appearance alone, but as X stared at the man through the monitor he couldn't help but feel his caution rising higher with every passing second.

" _Attention all Reploids on Earth!"_ The Reploid spoke with a wise but powerful voice that demanded your attention, _"I know these are chaotic times, and you may find it difficult to know who to trust. Though the Sigma Virus has vanished from the Earth, there was still outbreaks of Mavericks, some appearing as though they were operating in a trance-like state..."_

" _There is a reason behind these outbreaks. A new virus has entered our world, one that can affect and corrupt even Reploids, showing them dreams...No...Nightmares similar to what a human would see. Once infected by the Nightmare Virus, a Reploid becomes confused, or worst of all may malfunction or be deleted entirely."_

The Reploid swung his fist up and yelled with all the pride of his people, _"There have been many sacrifices in the aftermath of the Eurasia Incident, and our numbers are dwindling. We CANNOT stand by and let out kind go extinct by this new virus!"_

The crowd started to erupt with applause, even though the speech had not been finished. The allure of the Reploid's words had already ensnared the hapless masses, shutting down their ability to even consider or suspect that something was off like X, Shina and Alia did.

" _As of this moment, I have sent my trust team of eight investigators across the planet to hunt down the source of the Nightmare phenomena. My research has led me to discover...that the source of the virus is none other than the ghost of Zero, the ace Maverick Hunter!"_

"No...no way!" X leaned forward and his eyes popped open into a stuttering stare, his rage welling up deep inside as the crowd of Reploids rallied with the man's discoveries like mindless sheep.

" _Zero?! The Maverick Hunters are responsible for this, aren't they?! Down with the Maverick Hunters! Down with the Maverick Hunters!"_

"BASTARD!" X punched at the screen but his fist passed right through it, and the hefty swing left him with a ragged breath.

" _Calm down! All of you, CALM DOWN!"_ The man roared, and the crowd went eerily silent.

" _The Maverick Hunters are NOT our enemy. That spectre...he returned to this world out of his sheer hatred for all humans and Reploids. But we can return him to the grave where he rightfully belongs! Now, I wish to call upon all Reploids across the world! Unite with me! Unite with the Nightmare Investigators! And together we shall delete Zero's ghost!"_

" _Delete Zero!"_

" _Delete Zero!"_

" _Delete Zero!"_

" _Delete Zero!"_

X grit his teeth, but before he took another swing at the screen it was shut right off.

" _X, calm down. This is not the time to let your rage guide your actions."_ Signas contacted the two with a gentle approach.

"This isn't right. They're treating Zero like he's an infection..." Shina murmured.

"That Reploid's up to something! He might be the one who created High-MAX!" X exclaimed.

" _It's possible, but we have no evidence to go on at the moment...But still, I feel like I've seen that Reploid somewhere before."_

" _I know who he is...He's that scientist, Isoc."_ Alia remarked.

"Isoc...?" X had a moment of remembrance, "That's right! He's the one who was working with the government to try and eliminate the Sigma Virus!"

"...W-Wait, huh?" Shina stammered out all of a sudden. When X looked back at her, she realized that how odd her remark could be perceived and hastily murmured while glancing to the side, "S-So does that mean...we can trust him?"

" _Come back to the base you two. We'll sort out the details there."_ Alia had the final say in what the two could do here, and after a few more seconds she warped everyone back to the HQ...

 _Next Time: The First Revenge_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Paranoid Protector, Commander Yammark**

After making a hasty retreat back to the Maverick Hunter HQ, X and Shina guided the damaged Hunters to the repair bay before heading back to the command center to speak with Alia and Signas. There, they found the two standing in the center of the the room, with Alia having her laptop connected to the hologram projection of the world's map and typing away wildly.

Signas turned around, his arms locked behind the back as usual, and greeted the two with a relieved smile, "Good, you both made it back in one piece."

"Commander Signas, what's going on here?" X got straight to the point, approaching and stopping just a foot away from his superior while taking the time to look at Alia's hard work.

"While you were in transit back to base, we took the liberty of cross-checking the data we had on Isoc with the Reploid making that speech." Signas glanced back at Alia, who took a moment away from her typing to pop up a separate window with a spread analysis regarding Isoc.

"There's a 96.7% match with the voice logs we salvaged from the old government computers. But there are no records of his appearance." She explained in precise detail.

"I don't get it. Why would Isoc suddenly come out of the woodworks now?" Shina pondered while raising her hands beside her shaking head.

"He seems to know a lot about this...Nightmare Virus." Signas remarked with a deep intrigue, one hand nestled below the chin.

"No doubt he's behind it and that 'ghost of Zero'." X said, subtly furious.

"We can't go assuming that...Not yet." Signas cautioned his ally with a calm rational behind his thoughts.

"Alia, whatcha up to?" Shina blurted out between the two's conversation, approaching the dutiful navigator and peering over her left shoulder.

Alia flinched as she pulled her head away a bit and glanced back, resuming her typing with surprise on her face for a couple more seconds, "After Isoc's speech he passed on the information of the eight places the Nightmare Investigators are looking at in secret. But if I can just gain access to enough of the Reploids' transponders..."

In a single second eight dots flashed into view across the world, and Alia clutched her hand up into a fist and gave it a triumphant pump beside her shoulder, "Bingo! There we go!"

"Good work Alia." Signas offered his praises, and Shina patted Alia hard twice on the back while grinning, "Leave it to Alia to get the job done!"

Then, with a couple blinks, Shina twisted her head back towards Signas and with a lopsided grin she was embarrassed to inquire, "Uhhh...w-what job was she doing again?"

"That's what I'd like to know as well." X gave a blunt remark with one hand on his hip and the other gestured out.

Alia turned around, her extension cord wrapped around the side of her right shoulder as she kept the laptop perfectly level with the chest, "It's imperative we find out the truth behind the Nightmare Virus and the Zero Nightmare as soon as possible. If Isoc is telling the truth, then these eight locations are where the virus is most active."

"So if we investigate the areas the Nightmare Investigators are being sent to...We'll find some clues pertaining to the Nightmare Virus' origins?" X was beginning to follow along with the plan.

"And hopefully, be able to hunt down and stop the Zero Nightmare." Signas added.

Shina puckered her lips and tapped one foot on the ground while her arms were crossed against the abdomen, "Well...that's assuming the Zero Nightmare's being attracted to places infested with the virus."

"Now that you mention it..." Alia poked her head down at the laptop for a second and then shifted her gaze towards Signas, "Commander, is it possible for me to perform an examination on that berserk Mechanoloid? If it turns out it was infected by the Nightmare Virus..."

"Then we'll have enough evidence to support our theory..." Signas rubbed his chin then put the hand down at the hip, giving an affirmative nod of the head, "I'll have our remaining men at the Crash Site send the corpse over to our warehouse. Just be careful when you look it over."

"If the virus operates off of the 'dreams' of a Reploids, than it should already have gone inactive the moment the Zero Nightmare destroyed it. I'll be fine." Alia spoke, walking with a confident stride towards the door after unplugging her laptop.

But before arriving there, she stopped next to X and asked him, "But before I go, I should input the coordinates for you to head out."

"Where do you think I should go first?"

"Lets see here..." Alia examined the laptop for only a second, "There's a virus outbreak in the Amazon region that looks worth investigating."

With a few clicks of the fingertips along the keyboard, Alia then closed her laptop and holstered it between her hand and hip, giving X the approving thumbs-up, "You're all set to go. Try and stay in contact as much as you can, I need all the info I can get on this Nightmare Virus is we're going to have any hope of stopping it."

"Will do."

And with that, Alia went off on her merry way. Before X did the same, he looked back and Shina and asked, "You coming with?"

"I think I'll stick back for now. Just rough up that virus real good for me, alright?" Shina smirked and waved X off. With a nod the Hunter sprinted through the door and made his way to the teleporter room. In a flash of light he was sent off to a new location.

Dropped off atop a mossy foundation, X immediately took notice of a thick cloud of toxicity looming over the forest canopy in the distance. The poison took on a foggy, violet appearance and seeped into the metallic leaves, adding an eerie appearance to the pyramid-like temples in the area. Even here, the sun failed to breech through the clouds, filling the atmosphere with a rather uncomfortable presence.

Reaching for his back while glaring at the sky with scorn, X swung the Z-Saber out towards the ground at the same time he activated it. Loosening the tension that gripped his body in a vice with little more than a short breath, X took a few steps forward and leapt onto higher ground. The surface beneath his feet was just a little bit slippery, but the rocky mold underneath the moss was solid enough to support his weight.

Looking the scenery over for a moment, X saw some passive pillbug Reploids crawling around and nibbling up the moss in a fine-toothed graze. Moving one step down, X approached one of the Reploids and reached out to it. With his fingertips but a mere inch away, the pillbug snapped together in a ball-like coil and rolled down to a lower ledge off to the right.

"...I guess these Reploids haven't been infected." X lifted himself up, but could only breath a light sigh of relief. He gazed at the sky, and wondered about the form his enemy took. Was it like the Sigma Virus, invisible to the naked eye? Was it like the Zero Virus, haunting the world with an otherworldly presence? Or perhaps it was like neither at all, and it was just plain incomprehensible to any who dare happen to approach it?

A lack of knowledge did leave X perturbed, but his body was not left shaking in the slightest. Even if he could not perceive his enemy, he would face it with everything he's got. Gripping the Z-Saber tighter, X dashed forth and leapt over the docile pillbugs, sliding upon a raised ledge he landed on.

But the moment he did so, he heard some noises approaching from the distance, amongst them the sound of leaves being shifted out of the way. X stepped back and leaned against the nearby tree trunk, peering just enough past it to see a group of three Reploids pushing through a thicket of the forest. Each Reploid was equipped with scouting equipment, and they looked about as tough as regular Maverick Hunter from X's perspective.

"These must be the Reploids Isoc managed to recruit..." X looked a bit surprised, but then sealed his lips up tight and chose to be scarce and observe. The Reploids took a break and gathered in a circle, then started conversing amongst each other.

"Well, we're here...finally." The one in yellow armor remarked.

"You sure this is the place that Isoc guy mentioned? I don't see any signs of that 'Nightmare Virus' or whatever it was called." The one in green remarked, sounding wiped of all energy.

"It's a virus dude...Why would we be able to _see_ it? Besides, it's not the virus we're after, it's the one responsible for it!" The one in pinkish armor declared, throwing his fist up with a cocky grin.

"The ghost of Zero? ...Isn't he that top-class Maverick Hunter?" The yellow one grimaced, his body shaking a tiny bit after.

"Yeah, so what? It's just a ghost...how tough can one be?" The pink one remarked.

"W-We really shouldn't try and engage the Zero Nightmare alone. Didn't...didn't Isoc say there was an investigator somewhere around here?" The green one murmured.

"Yeah, but that old man didn't mention anything about who they are or _where_ they would be. So I say it's up to us to take down the Zero Nightmare!" The pink one continued to boast.

"...You're just going to get us deleted." The yellow one shook his head and grumbled.

"...G-Guys, is it...cold around here...or is it just...m-m-me?" The green one started to cross his arms and shiver.

"What are you talking about? It's humid as hell in this forest." The pink one gave his friend a stinky glare, thinking him insane.

"Ah...ah...AH AH AH...!" The green one's body rattled around at a violent rate, conjoined to a distortion that began to form right behind him. His allies began to back off, the yellow one stammering in fright, "W-W-What...is this?!"

The sky was shredded through like sandpaper against a chalkboard as the Reploid's body was gripped by a deadly paralysis, hoisted off the ground as though a crane's pincers were nailed to the sides of it's heads. The distortions grew worse, piercing through dimensions as an entity broke through to this plain of reality. The creature's legs and arms were made to look like coiled strands of DNA, with a golden drill-bit acting as it's hands. It's upper body was black and gold, with a rounded head that penetrated deep into ones soul with a half-opened, bright red eye.

For a second, X's body couldn't move. His legs were anchored to the ground with a weight heavier than an entire buildings worth of Reploids, and for a second more his body immitated the resounding thump of a human heartbeat. His hesitation in the face of pure, helpless fear, would cost the green Reploid dearly.

The creature's hands drilled into the Reploid's skull, while it's legs spread apart and coiled itself around the Reploid's hips and waist like a snake handling a rat. Needles appeared along the individual strands and penetrated deep into the Reploid's outer skin, peeling all of it right off nice and slow as the Reploid could only gargle out a weak and pained scream. All the while the entity stared straight ahead, leaving the other two Reploids frozen with uncertainty regarding if they were it's next victims or not.

Only the shredding and tearing of metal was heard coming from the creature as it meticuously bore into the Reploid's body, stopping only once both drills had connected in the very center of its prey's skull. Then, wiggling the drills free, the entity wobbled back and let the Reploid fall down on it's feet. The other two were gripped with lethal trembles, watching as their friend's head began to rise.

The metallic layer of skin around the skull was twisted to shreds, leaving a clear and frightening look at his glassed, hollow eyes. His 'skeleton' was exposed from the neck down, like an explosion had went off inside the body. But after bellowing a quiet gurgle, the Reploid lurched forward and swiped at his former friends with a hungered grip.

"W-WHAT IS THIS?!" The pink Reploid's screams pierced the sky, and he collapsed right onto his back as he frantically tried to run. The eye of the creature glistened bright and it's body instantly slumped straight out, pointing towards the fearful Reploid.

"Ah-ah-ah...! H...HELP!"

"Get down!" X ran out from behind cover and fired a charged out at the entity's face. Thanks to a timely duck, the pink Reploid was only grazed by the bottom of the projectile as it pierced through the creature's eye. The thing detonated right away, leaving behind a floating orb surrounded by a dark blue ember.

X kept moving and leapt over the fallen Reploid, closing his eyes as he gripped on the Z-Saber and cut the zombie-like Reploid in half. Dropping down on one knee, X grit his teeth into a scowl as the halves of the Reploid's body split and fell to the ground.

"...I'm sorry." He whispered as he stood up, opening his eyes only after he had turned around. But upon looking at the spot the creature once floated, X watched as the embers flickered and from complete nothingness the creature reformed and twisted around to face X.

Face-to-face with this creature, X gripped the Z-Saber until his knuckles cracked and sliced right across his foe's chest. Once more, the entity devolved into one of those orbs, but X swung at it again. When the edge of the blade connected, the orb was absorbed into and passed through it to reach X's body. The Hunter froze up and then jerked the blade right back, resting his left hand right on the center of his chest.

Nothing was off about his body, not even a tingle. Waiting a couple seconds just to be certain, X then put the Z-Saber on his back and surveyed the area around him twice. Once he knew the threat had passed for the time being, he reached down for the trembling Reploid and said, "Here, let me help you up."

"H-Holy...what...what was that?" The Reploid's face was rather pale for a machine, and his hands stayed glued to the ground.

"...If I had to guess, that was the Nightmare Virus." X bent further down and edged his hand closer. The Reploid swerved his head towards his friend's laid-out corpse, then with a tense gulp murmured, "Is...is he...dead?"

"...I'm sorry." X closed his eyes and looked away.

"...N-No way..." The Reploid shook a little more, then accepted X's assistance back onto his feet. The Hunter waved a hand out beside the hip and suggested, "Both of you need to keep on living...to honor your friend's memory."

"...You...you're that Maverick Hunter...X..." The Reploid murmured while staring X straight in the eyes. The Hunter didn't budge, and the Reploid shivered while shimmying a couple inches back. Bowing his head, the Reploid murmured a desperate plea, "Please stop the Nightmare Virus."

"I will. Just get out of here, find someplace to hide, and stay brave. We won't succumb to this nightmare."

"T-Thank...you." With their appreciation given, the two Reploids sprinted off, leaving X by his lonesome with lots of questions brewing inside.

"...Alia, did you see any of that?" X inquired as reached for the communicator aside his head.

" _...Crystal clear X. So...that's the Nightmare Virus, huh?"_ Even with a faulty connection, Alia's perturbance came through perfectly.

"What happened to that Reploid?" X turned around and looked at the corpse, "It's as if he was in a trance-like state..."

" _From what I could tell, the Nightmare Virus was attracted to the Reploid's fear, and fed on it. But in order to do so, it needs to penetrate the cerebral cortex. And once a Reploid's brain is damaged like that, well...I can't imagine they'd have very much control over their actions."_

"And what about the object that came out of the virus? I killed it once, but orb seemed to be able to bring it back to life...and then when I attacked the orb, it was absorbed into my body."

" _Absorbed into your...body? X, how are you feeling?"_

"Systems are running perfectly. I don't _feel_ any weaker, but..."

" _But...?"_

"...I'll keep you up-to-date if I feel any changes. Right now there's something else I wanted to ask you."

" _What is it?"_

"Do you have any idea who any of the Nightmare Investigators are?"

" _No...no, I don't."_ Alia's voice was quiet with melancholy after she paused.

"So, I don't know who I may run into here..."

" _If Isoc's intentions are as well-meaning as he claims then you shouldn't have to worry about the Investigators in the first place."_

"I'm not worried about fighting them. If it comes down to it, I'm ready to face our enemy. It's just that...I was thinking about that other Reploid."

" _High-MAX?"_

"Yeah. He said he was investigating the Zero Nightmare too. That means he's an ally of Isoc's."

" _You're thinking you'll run into him again, aren't you?"_

"If I do, I promise I'll defeat him this time."

" _Don't push yourself too hard X. There's no shame in retreating."_

"Thanks, but I'll be fine..." X then lowered his hand away from the helmet and turned around. Giving the corpse one last look, he hopped over it and sprinted on ahead. At the end of the road he saw a pathway going deeper into the mountain and jumped down, continuing on his way through the rocky caverns as the lighting grew dimmer and hazier.

Other Reploids had infiltrated the area ahead of that scouting group, a couple of them under attack by the creeping Nightmare Viruses. X ran as fast as he could and took them out, not even taking a break as he told the Reploids to vacate the premises. But after slaying about five viruses, X was ambushed by a pair of slicers flying at him from the right. Kicking his boosters forward to spin his body around, X narrowly slipped between the blades and landed on his feet, spinning around to find his aggressor standing on a ledge guarding the way further down.

His target was an praying mantis-like Reploid with pincers made of pure, sharpened diamond that called back to it's limbs right on demand. Suspended in place by a pair of plane-like wings and jets on the back, the large insect swung it's pincers out again in a curve.

X rocketed over them with a burst from his feet, then fired a piercing charged shot through the mantis' head. As the Hunter landed, the mantis' body turned into a green wireframe that appeared ready to vanish in a couple fleeting moments. X then lowered his buster and leapt off the ledge.

But in the blink of an eye, two slicers connected down the sides of his armor and forced him back against the wall below the ledge, ramming it with enough force to implant him into the crater his frame made. X pulled one hand free and looked up, seeing that the mantis had been reconstructed. With a quick deduction, he realized that the wireframe's presence allowed the mantis to recover. Thus, aiming his freed buster at the ceiling, X used a charged shot to dislodge a large enough boulder to crush the mantis and obscure the wireframe.

After a quick and confident breath of relief, X pulled the rest of his body out and dropped deeper into the cavern. It was so devoid of light this far down that the walls and ceilings took on a dim emerald shade, and X's body reflected this hue to help him blend in. The Nightmare Virus kept showing up as he went forward, but he managed to rescue each and every Reploid he managed to run across as well. He wasn't going to fail again, he **refused** to fail again.

After diving down into a small crevice to rescue a couple Reploids, X was turning around to head out when he saw a hidden passageway behind a wall right next to the exit up. Curiosity and experience taught him to investigate it without hesitation, and sure enough he found a Dr. Light capsule hiding almost right out of sight.

"..." X lowered his eyelids a little before he hopped down in front of the capsule, which stirred to life in reaction to his approach. The familiar appearance of Dr. Light's hologram brought a smile to X's face, and before the kind doctor had greeted him X beat him to the punch full of appreciation.

"Dr. Light...Thank you for repairing me."

The doctor stared at him for a bit, then chuckled as he smiled from cheek to rosy cheek, _"I should've known you'd be able to piece that toogether."_

"Who else could've done it but you? I...just have to wonder how you pulled it off."

" _The distortions caused by Zero Space granted my holographic body a physical presence for a little while. After that, it was a matter of using whatever spare parts I could find to patch you up,"_ Dr. Light then groaned out a sigh and remarked, _"Unfortunately, I was unable to finish recreating your Ultimate Armor in that timeframe. But rest assured, give me a little more time and you'll be able to use it again."_

"Thank you doctor...but you don't have to," X clutched his hand close up in front of the chest and looked at the palm, "I can't trust myself to wield that much power again."

" _Hmmm...I will respect your decision, X, but I'll hold onto the armor just in case you change your mind. Considering the sordid state of affairs in the world though..."_

"You've been paying attention?" X was a little surprised, though wondered why he should be by now.

" _The presence of this Nightmare Virus is disturbing, X...A corrupting influence that grips the mind of a Reploid with nightmares, and transforms them into a zombie...Whoever is responsible for this must be stopped at all costs."_

"I'm guessing you have another armor that will help me stop the Nightmare Virus?" X smiled.

" _Ah yes, I almost forgot. Indeed...I've noticed that you've had difficulty wielding the Z-Saber, so I decided to create an armor that will allow you to get the most out of that sword. I decided to call this armor...The Sword Armor. Like with the Falcon and Gaea armors, this armor will be split into four pieces of data that'll be sent off to your ally Alia to be put together as a full armor."_

"An armor that'll allow me to wield Zero's sword better..." X pulled it from behind and gave it a quick look, feeling a bit embarrassment to admit, "I haven't had much time to practice with the constant Maverick outbreaks..."

Putting the sword back, X nodded his head and remarked, "Thank you, Dr. Light."

The hologram disappeared briefly so X could step onto the capsule and act as the connection between that and the HQ, where the data for the Sword Armor's foot parts could be sent with ease. Once the process was done, X got off the platform and started to walk back towards the way he came in.

"I'll see you later, doctor." X waved a hand back and looked away. Hanging his head deep in thought, Dr. Light murmured out the moment X was up on the ledge, _"Whatever you do X...Do not try and confront Isoc."_

"...Huh?" X looked back, but the capsule had already been sealed up. Lowering his hand upon his right buster, X closed both eyes for a moment and whispered, "...Isoc..."

Shaking his head, he exited this area and continued on through the caverns in search of any signs of the Zero Nightmare. At one point there was a great abundance of suspended platforms teeming with Nightmare Viruses and more of those mantis-like enemies.

None of them stood a chance.

Before thirty seconds had passed, X had crossed the massive ravine and taken down all his targets, arriving at the exit of the cavern. After a brisk walk he had arrived deeper inside the forest, where the poison mist was thicker and the head of a fallen stone statue rested against the trunk of a metallic tree.

"Still no signs of the Zero Nightmare...Maybe it's just not-" X stopped in place, the rapid vibration of fluttering wings entering his ears from above. Looking up, the Hunter was given just two seconds to hop back as two rows of laser orbs the size of his fists bombarded the ground.

Raising his buster and shifting it left and right while taking a cautious couple of steps back, X tried to get a lock-on to the source of the assault.

"Halt! Who said you had permission to interrupt by investigation?!" An eager, youthful voice muffled by a helmet mouthpiece got louder as the person speaking descended to the ground, the high-speed flapping of their four glass wings blowing away the smoke his attacks kicked up. The voice belonged to a dragonfly-themed Reploid with green skin and a fan at the end of it's tail that helped kicked up wind for him to fly. His eyes were protected by a bulbous red set of goggles, and a pair of green bulbs atop the helmet represented the eyes of a normal dragonfly. A second later, three small yellow dragonfly drones hovered down around his body, aiming themselves at X.

"Investigation...?" X whispered, lowering his buster near the waist before dispelling it, waving that hand out before asking him, "So you're one of the Nightmare Investigators Isoc was talking about."

"Isoc? You know Dr. Isoc?" The Reploid's eyes widened and he pulled back, signaling at his drones to levitate behind him, "Oh I get it! You must be one of those Reploids he recruited to help investigate the Nightmare Virus. What's your name sir?"

X was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness the Reploid showed, though his request for identification did come off as a little odd. With a smile, X stretched his arm out before the chest and said, "My name is X. I'm a Maverick Hunter."

"Maverick...Hunter...?" The Reploid's voice hardened into a more wary tone, and his brows slanted down. X, mistaking his reaction for confusion, reeled his hand back in and apologized.

"Sorry, you must've been created recently. See, a Maverick Hunter is..."

"I know what a Maverick Hunter is!" The Reploid screamed without warning, then thrust his right hand up to point at the Hunter, his finger quivering, "All of your kind...Hunts down Reploids they deem to be Mavericks!"

"...O-Ok, calm down...I'm not your enemy." X eased his hands up by the chest and pushed them out a couple times, trying not to show even a single sign of aggression.

"LIAR!" The Reploid roared, "All you of you are the same! Y-You're here to kill me...!"

"No. No, that's not it. I'm just here trying to stop the Nightmare Virus, just like-" X raised his brows up and watched as the Reploid's eyes froze up in a state of utter fear, his pupils shrinking to miniscule dots as he grabbed the sides of his head with bent up fingers.

"I-I didn't do it...! T-That fire...It was an accident! Why was I blamed for that...I don't want to die again...I don't want to die again!"

"Die...again...?" X didn't feel comfortable tackling this problem on his own, and while the Reploid was gripped by mass hysteria he raised his hand towards the communicator.

"You're seeing this right? Can I get some identification on this Reploid?" There was no response on the other line, and by the time ten seconds had passed with no audible distortion X yelled in concern, "Alia? Alia, respond!"

"What..." The Reploid stopped and creaked his head upright, staring at X with a dumbfounded stare, "W-What did you just say?"

"Huh?" X glanced past the left side of his head towards the Reploid, who stood upright and began to chuckle.

"Ha...haha! I see now...You're working with _**her**_." The Reploid shifted his head forward and creased his forehead, his wings flapping fast enough to raise a gale comparable to the winds coming off the edge of a tornado. Rising off the ground, the Reploid re-positioned his drones around him and aimed his sights on X.

"I won't let you kill me! These wings of mine are the wings of freedom, and with them I'll soar to greater heights than I ever could before to protect these precious rainforests of ours! Now die X! Die at the hands of the mighty Commander Yammark!"

The drones spun around Yammark's body as he darted forward, firing as many projectiles as they could towards X. The Hunter boosted off the ground with his jet boots towards the top of the stone idol, landing firmly on the tip of the nose with his buster charged and aimed. Firing a shot that pierced the sky like an iron arrow, X observed as Yammark rose up with a perfect arched flight and twirled his body around to point at X without losing any momentum.

As he came divebombing down with an expression fierce as a raging bull, X drew the Z-Saber in the blink of an eye and used the blade to protect himself from the fire. Yammark lurched upright and thrust his right pointer finger forward, yelling at his drones to "Strike him down!"

Two of the drones separated and boosted at X with even greater speeds than their owner. Each one collided one after the other where X stood, blowing apart the face of the idol. Yammark swiped his right hand out and two more drones flew to his aid, all three gathering at the very center of his body.

A charged shot breeched the smoke but was intercepted by a combined attack from the drones. The charged shot, having more power behind it, forced a plume of smog to fly into Yammark's mask to dirty it up.

"Khhfff, KHFF!" Yammark sped up his wings to the point of them becoming a blur in order to clear the smog, then used the back of his right hand to clean his mask. He shifted his gaze up right away and saw X diving at him with blade already in mid-swing.

Zipping back a couple feet in a nanosecond, Yammark watched as one of his drones was sliced in twine, then tightened his fists up enough to start shaking. Throwing the fists out aside his hips, he didn't even wait for X to hit the ground before charging right at him and grabbing onto his neck, ramming him into the jagged remains of the idol.

Peppering his body with a few projectiles from his remaining drones, Yammark rose up spinning his body in a twisted spiral to try and dizzy X. Once he had risen above the canopy, Yammark turned around and hauled X over his head to hurl him back at the ground.

X's rapid descent sent him barreling through three thick metal branches, his body tumbling around and making a safe landing uncertain. With few seconds to spare, X gathered his bearings and slammed the base of his feet against the trunk of the tree, recoiling off it with a short burst of fire from his boots. This stalled his descent, but now he was rocketing head-first towards another tree. Gritting his teeth, X fired up the thrusters on his back for one second to shift his body upright, then pushed down the weight of his body so he'd crash to the ground like a boulder.

Dirt and stone was cast aside as his heels burrowed two deep trenches beneath him, but the mild damage done was worth it to prevent a more fatal injury. X was only given two seconds to catch his breath and think of a plan, as Yammark dive-bombed through the thicket of leaves with a furious look in his eyes.

"You fiend! Quit harming the forest!" He screamed, launching a new set of three drones down towards X's feet.

Having learned of the missile's explosive power first-hand, X made a hasty retreat onto a tree branch ten feet up to evade the ensuing blast, then pointed his buster straight down with energy charging. Once the smoke had parted via Yammark's wings, X took his shot and punctured right through the branch.

Yammark reeled back just in the nick of time, lifting his head up and summoning three more drones to take action. But as he aimed them up at the tree branch, his eyes swung right open, as the branch snapped off and was falling right at him.

"Shoot!" Yammark flew back before he was crushed under the branch's girth, then began to shift his head around in all manner of directions trying to find where X has ran off to.

"Where are you...?!" He growled in a bitter rage.

Some leaves rustled out from the trees and plummeted right to the ground like stones, and right away Yammark commanded his drones to fire upon the spot the leaves came from. During that barrage, X descended from the trees and sliced through his foe's left wings. Yammark's eyes widened and he spun around, his attempt to escape with fight only causing him to collapse right onto his back.

"No...Not my wings, anything but my wings!" Yammark cried out a tearful, angered plea as he threw his right hand up and commanded his drones to charge at X. The drones flew at blinding speeds, but all X had to do was shift his weight to the left so the drones would crash into the tree behind him and explode.

Face frozen in fear, Yammark planted his palms on the ground and stuttered uncontrollably. X held the Z-Saber back and looked down at his opponent, asking him with a firm politeness, "Stand down. I don't want to destroy you."

"Liar! You're just another LIAR!" Yammark pushed himself right of the ground fists swinging, smashing his bare knuckles right into X's face one fist after another.

"You Maverick Hunters and Reploid researchers...! I hate all of you! Why can't you leave me alone?! I didn't do anything wrong! I swear I didn't do anything wrong!" With each proclamation Yammark's fists struck harder and harder, forcing X further towards the tree.

Closing his eyes, X fought back with one single, decisive charged shot through the Reploid's chest. All of Yammark's energy was drained in that moment, and the weight of his body dragged him back onto the ground. His body twitched a couple times as electricity spurted out from the wound, then with one dull fizzle he ceased to function entirely.

"...I'm sorry." X lowered his buster and couldn't bring himself to look at Yammark's body for the moment. Turning away, he placed the deactivated Z-Saber on his back then motioned that hand towards the side of his head.

"Alia? Are you there?"

" _What's up X?"_ She responded, her voice rather nonchalant.

"I encountered one of the Nightmare Investigators...He called himself Commander Yammark."

" _...I see. Was he hostile?"_

"Not at first. But once he found out I was a Maverick Hunter, he went on the attack," X glanced back at his corpse and murmured in hesitation, "...He also reacted negatively to your name Alia. Did you know who he was?"

" _...No, can't say I did. He must've mistaken me for another Alia."_

"...I guess it's possible. He did seems to also bear a grudge against researchers, and you've always been a navigator. There's something else that bothered me though...He said he had died before."

" _A reconstructed Reploid...? Could this be another effect of the Nightmare Virus? ...X, check his body for a second."_

"Alright. I needed to take his power anyways." X finished turning around then bent down at Yammark's body. Before he reached for their chest, a larger orb similar in appearance to the ones he's acquired from the Nightmare Viruses emerged from the wound. Reaching his hand out to touch it, X managed to absorb it into his body all at once. Then, after pausing to make sure nothing was wrong with his body, he tapped Yammark's body to absorb his power.

" _So, he had one of those inside of him as well..."_

"As well?"

" _I'll bring you back to base so we can discuss our findings together. Good work X."_

"I don't think it feels good..." X murmured, hanging his hands down at the hips before giving Yammark one last glance as he's warped away back to HQ...

 _Next Time: Switch and Bait_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Hunter of Prizes, Ground Scaravich**

After returning to base, X made his way to the command center, and Alia showed up in there a minute or so later. She brought her laptop along, her head burrowed into it rather close to the monitor. Once she got near X and Shina in the center of the room, she poked her head up a little over the top then lowered the laptop to right below her chest.

"Alright, good, you're both here."

"So what did you discover?" X inquired.

"Yeah, did ya find anything out about the Nightmare Virus?" Shina smiled at the navigator, watching as Alia turned the laptop around and kept it from falling off her palm.

"Take a look at this. Doesn't it look familiar, X?" On the monitor was the remains of that Mechanoloid that had gone crazy, floating above it being a few of those strange blue orbs.

"The Nightmare Viruses and Commander Yammark generated the same kind of orbs..." X moved a pointer finger up towards the monitor, and after Alia nodded her head she reached for the right arrow key and gave it a swift click. The image changed to one frame later, with the orbs having been transformed into the Nightmare Virus. X's hand reeled back in shock.

"Yeah, the Nightmare Virus can regenerate if those orbs are left intact." X murmured.

"The Virus appeared in the base? Are you alright?" Shina whispered with a concerned glance towards Alia. The navigator responded without a single show of worry, remarking back with a smile, "Relax, the auto-defense turrets took care of the Virus the moment they showed up."

"...But when the Virus was eliminated, those orbs didn't show up again." Alia then closed the laptop up and put it at her hip.

"Sooooo...those orbs are what's powering the Nightmare Virus?" Shina inquired, crossing both arms under her chest and tilting her head left to right a few times.

"Correct," Alia gave a nod in her direction, "These orbs, which shall now be dubbed 'Nightmare Souls', seem to have the power to control inanimate objects, or even raise the dead back to life...Assuming that Commander Yammark person was telling the truth."

"That Mechanoloid you fought...Do you recall seeing that orb that seemed to be commandeering the unit?" Alia then turned towards X, who didn't have to think for more than a millisecond to find an answer.

"Yeah. Are you saying...that drone controlled the Mechanoloid by feeding it Nightmare Souls?"

"Exactly my point."

"But then what does this mean for X? Cause...he gobbled up a LOT of Nightmare Souls." Shina looked towards the Hunter, who in turn laid a hand on his chest and looked down at himself.

"Well, X isn't dead so...I'm guessing there's no negative side effects to holding onto the Nightmare Souls. Actually, considering what they're capable of in the first place, holding onto them might be giving you more power." Alia was only half-confident in her theory, shaking her head and brushing a hand out beside it with her eyes shut.

"There's no hard data to back up any of my claims really. Whoever created this Nightmare Virus has defied all manners of conventional sciences."

"But you can figure it out if you keep researching it, right?" X pondered with plenty of faith in his comrade.

"Of course I can X. It'll just take some time. For now though, there's another theory you might be more interested in hearing me out on. It's important you stick around too Shina, I'm going to need your help on this."

"Sure, what's up?" Shina perked upright and stood completely still.

"Ok, so...Now that we know about the Nightmare Souls and the Nightmare Virus, we can explain the presence of a certain Zero Nightmare back at the Crash Site." Alia was about to pull her laptop out when Shina sprung to attention and blurted out, "Oh! You're suggesting the Zero Nightmare is like...attracted to the locations where a ton of Nightmare Souls have gathered, yah?"

"...Yeah, exactly." Alia drew her laptop back down beside the hip slowly, taken aback by Shina's abundant enthusiasm.

"With that in mind, I think we can use this information to our advantage. If we gather enough Nightmare Souls in one location..."

"Then we can lure out the Zero Nightmare!" X remarked, his eyes widening with eager anticipation at the prospect.

"Yeah hopefully," Alia, however, wasn't fully certain of herself and laid a hand upon her chin before turning away and pacing back and forth in the same general area, "The main problem lies in how we're going to do this under the noses of the Nightmare Investigators."

"The Amazon isn't occupied anymore, why not try and lure 'em out there?" Shina proposed.

"Hmm, I think that'd be too obvious. Besides, X has already cleaned up the Nightmare Viruses in that area, and we'd probably at least want double the amount of Nightmare Souls if we have any hopes of luring the Zero Nightmare out."

"Then one of us should go to another area the Nightmare Investigators are exploring and try to trick them out of the area so we can occupy it for this experiment." X suggested.

"It'd be better for our purposes if you just took out the Investigators, honestly." Alia blurted out in a blunt and violent sounding manner.

"R-Really? I guess you might have a point Alia, but..."

"Great! Glad you agree with me X," Alia rushed her interruption and then bolted in front of X, grabbing him with her left hand, "Now come with me. We need to work on a way to extract the Nightmare Souls from your body."

"A-Alright..." X was led alone by Alia's odd manner of enthusiasm, glancing back at Shina with a stern glare and remarking, "We'll leave the Investigators up to you Shina. Is that alright?"

"Sure but..." Shina had an awkward smile because of how this scenario was playing out, and with a chuckle she closed her eyes tensely and inquired, "Where am I supposed to go?"

Alia, with surprising balance in her movements, flipped the laptop up onto her only available palm and then swung her other hand out to tap away at the keyboard. All the while, she hastily told Shina, "I'm sending the teleporter coordinates to a museum that one of the Investigators are occupying. Good luck! And contact us once you've secured the area!"

And like that, the two were far out of sight, leaving Shina to let out an exasperated sigh that echoed in this hollow room. Shaking her head with a pleasant smile, she shook her shoulders and said, "Welp! Guess it's time to get to work!"

She ran straight for the door and down the hall, making a sharp left turn into the teleporter room and hopping onto the appropriate device. Before she was sent off, she reached for her back and made sure that Alex's sword was still secure in place.

"Yep, all good!" She said, pleased with herself to the point of being maybe a little too proud. Staring straight ahead with a determined expression as the light appeared to warp her away, she thought with a slight melancholy, _"...I have to try even harder to find Alex now. Hold out wherever you are Alex! I'm coming for ya!"_

In the blink of an eye Shina was sent inside of a sleek metallic museum, specifcally the top of a staircase leading down to an area called "A-1" as indicated by a label on the wall to the left. A little further down the left of the wall was a sign calling this place the "Central Museum" in perfect English, meaning Shina was still in the United States.

"Alright, time to take a look around. Alia, got any tips for me?" Shina raised her eyes towards the right side of her face and murmured more pressingly, "Uh...Alia?"

"...Huh, guess she's busy." Shina shrugged the back of her shoulders and thrust her body off the top of the staircase, diving down to the bottom without bonking her head on the ceiling. After a sliding landing, she turned her head around and saw a few of the museum's unique displays.

In this day and age the people of this world used holograms to display the wonders of the world, removing the personal feelings of awe and wonder that one would normally have wandering through this kind of place. There were still details present on the front of the windows, but their display was cold and detached from reality.

" _Mmm, not my cup of tea..."_ Shina jerked her head away and started running at a brisk pace with pistols held at the hips. It didn't take long for her to reach the descent into area A-2, but her way was blocked by a strange, totem-shaped projection.

" _Ah, I know what to do here...!"_ Her memories and instincts as a gamer kicked into high gear, forcing her legs to leap right into the projection. Her body was pulled back through the air, the area in front of her twisting up as though but through the wringer. Then what she saw snapped back to a normal view, but with her now in a different area.

This part of the museum preferred to maximize the potential of the earlier displays, spreading them out across a dozen or so meters of holographic window panes. The panes were assembled in a grid-like format, emulating the view of a pristine ocean, complete with a couple schools of trout. The deep blue oceans cast their light upon the otherwise drab and dull chrome floors.

"Huh, that's more like it!" Shina pepped up and continued on her way after a quick glance at the luxurious scenery. It only took her hopping down one platform to hear a panicked cry coming further down. Sliding down the slant to the very tip of the edge, she leaned her entire body out and saw a few armored Reploids being swarmed by three Nightmare Viruses.

"Hold on!" Shina leapt forward and flipped upside-down, holding her pistols out and starting to spin as she unloaded the ammunition into the Nightmare Viruses' bodies. After their bodies were little more than swiss cheese, Shina flipped back around and slammed her feet against the ground in the second before it would have been too late. Though her legs were a little rocky after, she was able to fly around and absorb the Nightmare Souls the viruses left behind after taking a second to catch her breath.

But upon being presented with the power of the Nightmare Souls, Shina's eyes shrunk to dots for a brief moment, accompanied by a haunting chill across the body. She landed and crossed her arms underneath the chest just to shiver. The speed of which the sensation left her was so swift that she almost wondered if she had imagined it. Easing her state of mind with a deep breath, she smiled and then turned right around to face the Reploids she had saved.

"Alright, you're all safe and sound now! Ya might want to get outta here before-"

"Hey, are you a Maverick Hunter?" One of the Reploids asked.

"Well, if you want to be technical I'm more an Inte-" Shina was clocked on the side of her forehead by a pebble of all things, causing that eye to wince shut as she squeaked in mild annoyance, "H-Hey, whatcha do that for?"

"Get out of 'ere! Your lots responsible for this whole mess in the first place!" The group of Reploids gathered together in throwing pebbles at Shina's head. It was a pitiful offense, but one that stung more emotionally than physically.

Shina took every pebble with more prominent grimaces, her smile sinking into a frowned pucker as she said, "C-Come on now, you're being silly. We're trying to STOP the Nightmare Virus!"

"Yeah right! Why don't you go and cause more Mavericks to happen you worthless Hunter!" The obnoxiously loud Reploid on the far right threw his pebble extra hard, the impact forcing Shina's head back a couple inches.

Blinking twice as she pulled back in, Shina sighed and then swiped her right hand down, separating herself from the Reploids with a wall of aura. There was no malicious intent behind the act, as the moment she turned around she sighed and whispered, "Weeeeeell...hopefully they'll get the message now."

Walking away from the Reploids, the last things Shina heard from them was their thunderous protesting via banging their fists against the wall, along with a muffled cry of them demanding to be let out. But, as she dropped down to another platform, Shina's pace grinded to a halt, and she was disheartened by the distrust those three had towards the Maverick Hunters.

" _It's not fair...They're just trying to protect the world."_ Shina turned her head and puffed out a 'phooey' before deciding that this matter wasn't worth her time. Changing public opinion on the Maverick Hunters was not her fight, unfortunately.

On the way through the rest of this part of the museum, Shina took down a few more Nightmare Viruses and collected their souls, continuing to experience that frightening sensation every time one entered her body. Soon enough, she reached a small gorilla-head shaped totem at a dead end and used a rocket to blow it up. Her body was dragged back to the main part of the museum, and the projection had turned into a real totem pole to block her path.

Switching her pistols out for a crossbow with a laser reticule, she targeted each segment of the totem individually and shot an explosive arrow into each one. With one more tug of the trigger afterwards, the explosives took out the whole pole, and she vaulted through the smoke left behind to continue on. On the next floor, there was another projection in her path that she had no choice but to leap right into.

Her next destination had a background with a giant skeleton of a T-Rex standing all by itself amidst a bland dark blue atmosphere. The platforms were spread about to resemble a small maze, and with a deflated groan Shina leaned her head back and left her arms limp at the hips.

" _Drats! I'm not very good at mazes..."_ Though it was a bit embarrassing to resort to it, Shina closed her eyes and tried to detect some auras that might lead her to the exit. The signatures in the room were faint, but the coldness of a majority of them made it clear that the Nightmare Viruses were aplenty in this room. There were also some more Reploids in need of rescuing, but what caught Shina's attention more than anything else was that there was a Dr. Light capsule in the very center of this maze.

Opening her eyes, Shina motioned a pistol into the air and glided it around, mouthing her course of action with silence. Repeating the plotted course once then nodding her head, she shot right up past the platforms above her and shot down a Nightmare Virus that glided her way. Then she pressed her feet against the edge of the platform and barreled between a gap in the wall straight ahead, flipping around onto her back and sliding along the floor to snipe through a pair of wandering Nightmare Viruses on a floor above.

Before her head hit the wall, she looked back and crafted a ramp that her body slid up. Though it cracked the 'bones' in her ankles she slanted her feet until they were even with the floor, then fired off a burst of aura from her signature rocket boots to launch herself diagonally through two rooms and land right between two Reploids and three of the Nightmare Virus. She shot them down by gliding her right arm in a sweeping motion to the left, firing off an SMG through their bodies.

Before a word of thanks from the Reploids could be given, Shina had already vaulted off and snatched up the Nightmare Souls, then turned around and planted her feet against the wall to fire herself towards the room right above. Thus, she landed right in front of the Dr. Light capsule, glancing around just to double-check that she didn't miss a Nightmare Virus along the way.

"Whew...! If only all mazes were that easy!" She swiped the crux of her brows with her right pistol then looked at the capsule, which popped open a second later. Dr. Light's hologram showed up, greeting Shina with a smile.

"Hi doc, how's it going?" She waved her hand out.

" _I see you are doing well, Ms. Aurora. How goes your search for Alex?"_

"Eh? You...know I'm looking for him?" Shina fluttered her eyelashes a few times while pointing at her face, then looked Dr. Light straight in the eyes and asked, "Hey! Do you have any leads for me to follow?"

" _...I'm afraid I do not."_ Dr. Light closed his eyes and groaned quietly.

"...Oh." Shina's, admittedly slim, hopes were dashed at that moment.

" _I'm sorry I cannot be of more assistance. But do not give up hope. I'm sure you'll find him if you keep looking."_

"I'm not giving up hope. I've come too far to do that now," Shina's eyes perked open for a second as she then blurted out, "Oh! Since you're here, I wanna thank ya for repairing me and X. I'm surprised you were able to pull it off."

" _I didn't think I would be able to repair you either, Ms. Aurora, but it seems the circumstances were in your favor that time around."_

"Huh? Whaddya mean?"

" _Your systems...are almost an expect replica of X's."_

"Wait wait, WHAT?!" Shina stumbled back and almost tipped off the edge of the platform, reeling herself back in and staring Dr. Light straight in the eyes with both her own unblinking.

" _Do you have any idea why that may be?"_

"U-Uhhh...that's like asking a blind man to tell ya what time it is doc. I'm sorry," Shina shrugged her shoulders then remarked with her eyes still shut, "All I know is that this craziness keeps happening every time Alex and I go to a new planet."

" _Hmmm, sounds like a problem beyond my understanding...Forgive me for bothering you."_

"No it's fine, it's fine! I-I didn't think about it, but I guess that DOES explain why I haven't gone Maverick..." Shina smiled in relief, though her lips were a bit twitchy as she did so.

" _I would still be careful around the Nightmare Virus. If they truly exploit the fear of Reploids, then all it takes is a wavering heart..."_

"I'll be fine! Honest! Don't worry about it!" Shina blurted all of a sudden.

" _Hrrmmm...Well, I shouldn't keep you up any longer. I'm sure you're very busy."_ Dr. Light murmured gently.

"But before that, I oughta get X his armor part." Shina stepped into the capsule as the hologram left for a moment. Accepting the flow of data through her body, Shina hopped right when it was done and then turned around to look at Dr. Light again. His expression was now a little dour, and Shina could tell he had something on the tip of that tiny holographic tongue of his.

"...Something you wanna say doc?"

" _I recently proposed a question to X. I asked him...If he had the courage within him to destroy his best friend for the betterment of the world."_

Shina's body grew heavier, and her facial features began to sink.

" _What if something has happened to your friend? Something that cannot possibly be reversed...? Will you be able to bring yourself to stop him...Even if it means-"_

"I-I've already decided what I'm going to do..." Shina hung her head back so her bangs covered up the eyes. With a small, forced smirk, she raised her head up to smile and told Dr. Light bluntly, "I'm not going to leave him behind. I _will_ save him from himself."

" _Correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Aurora, but do you not require the artifact piece that Alex has to save your people? Can you really take such a brazen risk...knowing that failure shall doom them all?"_

"I can, and I will. It wouldn't be fair if Alex was the only one to get a bad ending after all his hard work. Sure, call me idealistic, maybe even a loony bin...But that's just how I've always seen the world. If you ain't causing trouble for anyone, then you always, ALWAYS deserve a chance to be happy."

" _I'll admit, that's not a terrible philosophy to have..."_ Dr. Light whispered, seeing the pure, child-like sincerity in Shina's eyes, _"But I shall pray it not proves to be your downfall, Ms. Aurora."_

Dr. Light then slipped away into the capsule, leaving Shina to linger more on their conversation as she made her way to the exit of this maze. Repeating the process of dealing with the totems, Shina continued on through the rest of the museum's floors, exterminating another area's Nightmare Viruses. When she was done, she didn't even realize that she had reached the bottom of the museum until she strolled through a sliding steel door.

"Huh?" Looking back as the door sealed shut, Shina sighed and headed down the hall. Beyond the second door was the main hall, which also appeared to double as a miniature observatory judging by the starry space on the dome-shaped ceiling. The wide-open space and fresh air devoid of Nightmare Viruses was relaxing, but Shina knew it was not to last.

The ground rumbled a little bit as a small stone boulder was rolled towards her. Before it rolled into her legs, Shina raised her right hand up high and exclaimed, "Excuse me sir!"

"Eh? Company? At this hour?" The boulder stopped, and the one behind the rowdy cowboy accented voice hopped over it and stood up to lean against it. The Reploid only just managed to stand above the boulder's already small size, and the top of his head didn't reach the middle of Shina's waist. He was modeled after a dung battle, his color scheme consisting mostly of yellows and browns. His mouth was hidden right between two slanted upright mustaches and underneath a flat rectangular nose. In spite of his rough appearance, the Reploid looked pretty spry.

"Well I'll be darned...What's a pretty little lass like you doing around these parts? If you're lost, I'd be more than willing to show you the way out."

" _Am I...being hit on by a dung beetle?"_ Shina pinched her lips together and snorted a laugh through the nostrils, though a part of was charmed by his gentlemanliness.

"I-I'm not lost. In fact, I came here looking for ya." She then remarked, trying to regain some degree of composure.

"Me? Hehehe, and to what do I owe the pleasure?" The Reploid retracted his head a bit and waved a hand out, his motions full of vigor and youth.

" _Alright Shina, you've got his attention. Time to lie harder than you've ever lied before!"_ Though her thoughts were aggressive, her eyes stared down at the Reploid's beady ones with an innocent passion, "Well, I heard the legendary ruins hunter Ground Scaravich was somewhere around here."

"Ruins hunter? Heh, why...that's **my** middle name!" Scaravich puffed his hardened chest up with pride and poked at it with his thumb.

"Gasp! _You_ are that legendary hunter?" With a flare for the theatrics, Shina's voice exemplied a perfect display of shock and awe, "I never would've imaged such a little Reploid could be so brave...!"

"S-Schucks...! I may be tiny, but my hearts' as fiery as lit dynamite!" Scaravich might as well been rolling over at this point, which Shina saw as a point in her favor. Perhaps getting just a _little_ too into this act though, Shina doubled down on the demureness by pouting and coddling her hands together behind the back.

"These ruins I found are _sooooo_ scary, and _soooo_ dangerous. Only a big, **strong** , Reploid could _ever_ hope to tackle 'em..."

"Well..." Scaravich's enthusiasm broke with a snap of the fingers before the chest and an inaudible curse muttered under his breath, "Shoot. I just can't do it, I'm sorry lassie..."

"Awwww...why not?" Shina set her eyes a-twinkling and leaned closer.

"Duty calls I'm afraid...and I owe the man who gave me this job an unimaginable debt of gratitude," Scaravich bowed his head and whispered, "I'll have to decline for now. Perhaps when this whole Nightmare mess blows over..."

"...Oh." Shina reeled back and dropped her act on the spot, her heart weighed down by a growing sensation of guilt. Turning her head aside and biting her lower lip, she decided to resort to acting like her normal self with one last ploy to get Scaravich to leave.

"I could...watch out for the Nightmare Virus while you go explore those ruins?" Shina's idea swiveled Scaravich's head in her direction, and she asked him politely, "Would...would that be alright?"

"Hmmm, rotating the guards, eh?" Scaravich lowered his head and rubbed the chin, his contemplative hums getting longer with every passing second. It took a good minute of patient waiting before Scaravich snapped his fingers and turned his head, declaring out to Shina, "Alright I'll do it!"

"Ground Scaravich...Why are you neglecting your duties?"

" _Oh crap! That voice is...!"_ Shina looked right up and saw High-MAX flying into the room fifteen feet off the ground. Scaravich turned around and hopped atop his steady boulder to shake his fist at the black Reploid.

"Whatcha think you're doing here High-MAX?! I was assigned to this area, git yer own!"

Shina spun around and her eyes tensed up, the pupils shifting around until fixating on the right side of her head. Quickly but quietly tapping the communicator, she whispered in a panic, "Alia...ALIA!"

" _What's going on?"_

"I ran into the investigator in this area...I was THIS close to getting him outta here when all of a sudden High-MAX showed up!"

" _High-MAX? ...This is bad, we don't know his weakness yet. Ok, we'll just have to forgo that area for the time being. I'll bring you back now..."_

"Huuuuurrrryyy...!" Shina peered over her shoulder, listening in on the two other Reploid's conversation.

"The master entrusted you with this area out of respect for your former profession, and yet you'd betray his trust by conversing with our enemy?"

"Enemy? You got grease so far up your eardrums that it's loosened the screws in your brain!" Scaravich waved a finger around his head in circles.

"Right now, that woman is conversing with the one master calls 'Alia'...Another one of our mortal enemies."

"...Wait wait wait...You don't mean..." Scaravich shook his hands out and almost stumbled off his boulder backing off. He then looked back, staring into Shina's widened eyes and recognizing that she was on a communicator.

"Hahaha...!" Shina let loose a groggy chuckle before swinging her head forward and yelling, "Alia, hurry up!"

" _I can't! There must be some interference on your end!"_

"I have jammed the teleportation signal," High-MAX remarked the moment Alia finished talking. As Shina turned around, the imposing Reploid floated forward and continued, "It seems you are too pathetic to understand how outclassed you are, interloping Reploid. For your interference, you shall now be terminated."

Scaravich lowered his head and closed his eyes, mumbling under a frazzled scowl, "Hmph...! Once again I was almost allured by a pretty blonde Reploid..."

Shifting his head up high and taking a high-and-mighty stand atop his boulder, Scaravich stared Shina down and declared, "Fool me once, shame on me...Fool me twice well...Sorry lassie, but it looks like you'll be sleeping with the fishes."

Scaravich punched his fists together and swiveled his neck around to crack it, while High-MAX released steam from the cracks in his body and aimed his hands down towards Shina.

" _You have to get out of there Shina! You can't beat them both!"_ Alia urged with all her might.

Shina stared her two foes down and felt her 'heart' racing against her chest, burning with a combination of fear and excitement. With quivering lips, she swallowed deep and then raised both her weapons straight ahead.

"I can't do that! You need this place for your plan Alia! Don't worry about me, I'll fend 'em both off!"

"Yer fighting outside your weight-class lassie! That old hunk of bolts is the Ultimate Reploid! Whaddya think you can do about 'em?" Scaravich boasted, then leapt back behind his boulder and planted his hands on the ground to push at the boulder with his legs.

"Ehh, I'll wing it and see what happens! He may be Ultimate, but he ain't invincible!" Shina turned her pistols into crossbows and fired piercing arrows at High-MAX's face. The Reploid's eyes flashed and he blasted the targets with a shot of laser vision, then pushed his right hand up to unleash four electric balls at Shina.

Shina leapt straight through the air and held her arms in a cross before the chest, taking advantage of the pause the balls took to redirect to slip past them. Her body was tense as the balls were inches away from grazing her body, staying that way even as she whipped her arms out and rammed a pair of shotguns into High-MAX's waist. Even a point-blank shot from two barrels didn't put a dent in the Reploid's frame, and thus Shina made a hasty retreat.

But her escape was thwarted by Scaravich, who kicked his boulder up into her back to knock her towards into High-MAX's body. The hulking Reploid threw his right fist out faster than a speeding bullet into Shina's chest, shattering the boulder as she was sent hurtling to the ground. After a couple tumbles and reacting grunts, Shina gained enough consciousness to halt her movement with a wall of aura.

A shadow was cast overhead, and Shina made a frantic effort to stand back up before Scaravich crushed her underneath another of his boulders. Floating back through the air a couple feet to gain some distance, Shina pulled out a couple of SMGs and targeted Scaravich's head with her assault, only for him to heave the boulder up and swing it around like a club to block all the bullets.

Scaravich grunted as he spun his body and hauled the boulder around with relative ease, turning his body into a deadly, blunt tornado whose momentum was enough to drag him closer to his target. Shina used one arm to project a thick shield of aura, but the force of Scaravich's assault was riddling her protection with cracks in a matter of seconds. Glancing to the right, she grit her teeth and saw High-MAX charging his 'Death Ball' up in the same manner as he did the previous encounter.

" _Think fast think fast!"_ Her brain was working overtime to come up with a plan, though the stress of this situation grinded the wheel of ideas down to an almost snail's pace.

" _Not helping!"_ She cursed her mind, doubly so once her brief break of concentration caused Scaravich to smash her shield to bits. With time winding down for her to counterattack, Shina threw her right arm up and transformed her gun into a grappling hook launcher and prayed for this quick thinking to prove successful as she fired.

Amidst the turbulent whirlwind, the hook punctured the boulder and the aura of rope attached to it stuck to the barrel of the gun like super glue. Winding itself around and around both the boulder and Scaravich, the rope slowed his momentum down in a couple of seconds as his body was smashed and bound against his own creation. Shina breathed a sigh of relief but only for a second, as High-MAX's Death Ball came barreling her way.

A lightbulb went off in her head, and with a quick tug as she leapt back the rope was snapped off from the rest of the gun and Scaravich was put in the way of the Death Ball.

"W-Wait a sec-!" The attack struck him full force, annihilating his boulder and leaving Scaravich looking not that much better. Though even with the scuffs and scars, the beetle stood up and turned his attention towards his comrade to scream at him.

"Watch where you're aiming that blasted thing! You trying to get me killed again?!"

"You are a nuisance. I can handle this just fine on my own." High-MAX's blunt put-down didn't even require him to look down at the target of his abuse, for her put a hundred percent into locking onto Shina and continuing his assault.

"N-Nuisance?! Don't get all hot-headed just cause you're his so-called Ultimate Reploid!" Huffing up a storm in vain, Scaravich spit to the right then raised his hands up high, calling forth a boulder twice as big as the last.

"Lets see ya stop this!" He pitched it out like a baseball, and with her eyes almost popping out of her head Shina leapt straight ahead and rolled along the ground to get back on her feet. Watching as the boulder took out the wall behind her, she began to realize that Scaravich wasn't fooling around anymore.

" _Geez! Why aren't you as much of a joke in real life as you were in the game?!"_ She mustered up a thought born of growing panic. In the second it took her to do that, High-MAX has already surrounded her with about eight electric orbs.

"Hup!" Backflipping over the converging projectiles, Shina floated in mid-air and lined herself up with High-MAX's position. The Reploid took great care not to move from the same spot, more than likely because he didn't perceive Shina as a threat that required that much effort.

" _Grrr, he's tough but arrogant...Maybe I can use that to my advantage?"_ Shina looked left than thrust her body right, her body almost pasted against the wall by another large boulder from Scaravich.

" _And there's still that dunghead to worry about..."_ Shina aimed her weapons his way, but then was struck by another bolt of inspiration, _"Wait a tic...Maybe there's a way to take out two birds with one stone...Literally!"_

Recoiling her weapons back to her hips, Shina dropped to the ground and avoided yet another boulder, this time causing Scaravich's face to turn steaming red as he hopped up and down like a fidgety grasshopper.

"Gimme a break! You're more slippery than a fly!" He proclaimed.

"A fly? Well guess that's fair, since you're nuthin' more than a stinky dung beetle!" Shina giggled and tapped a pistol against the side of her head while sticking her tongue out.

"Grrrr...!" Scaravich summoned another boulder and planted his feet against it, kicking it forward with all he's got. Shina braced herself with feet spread out, glancing to the right to see High-MAX charging up another 'Death Ball'.

" _Gotta time this JUST right..."_ With the boulder approaching, Shina covered her left shoulder in a massive shell of aura and rammed directly into it. Her protection cracked and the joints in her arm went numb for a second, but she succeeded in halting the boulder's movements.

She then flipped right on over it, the 'Death Ball' flying straight past where she once stood. As she crossed the center of the boulder, she aimed a rocket launcher at High-MAX and fired, hitting him hard with it's explosive payload. The Reploid flashed it's eyes and murmured, "Futile..."

" _That's what you think!"_ Shina landed and thrust her rocket launcher forward, launching another one at Scaravich. The Reploid was launched into the wall above the door from the blast, and only at that point could Shina breath a momentary sigh of relief.

But her work wasn't done.

Twisting her head to the right, she saw High-MAX preparing another 'Death Ball'. With a graceful twirl befitting the climax of a ballerina's performance she put a rocket boot on her right leg and set it off, kicking into the back of the boulder with all her might. It launched straight through the air and smashed into High-MAX, pushing his body a good ten feet through the air and breaking apart his planned attack.

High-MAX's body trembled, and the propulsion of his feet spurted for a couple moments before he plummeted straight to the ground. Static covered his body in short bursts, and he looked ready to collapse onto his knees and knuckles.

"What...what is this...?" High-MAX remained stoic but confused. He managed to stand erect a moment later, but the static still shot through his body on occasion.

"I've been...damaged...? This is...impossible. I must...I must consult the master about this..." High-MAX rocketed off the ground and hovered in the middle of the room for a second, glaring straight at Shina while holding up an air of arrogance, "This was just a fluke. Once I have surpassed this minor imperfection, I will be back to eliminate you..."

High-MAX flew straight through the ceiling, and Shina saw him off with a proud smile and a pump of her fist. But victory was premature, as there was still Scaravich to deal with. Turning to the left, she found him toppled onto his back and seesawing back and forth to try and get back on his feet. His frantic motions were conjoined with his anger, as he shook his fist straight up at the sky and yelled, "You coward! Get your chrome butt back here this instant and help me up!"

Shina stood over him and pointed a rifle at his face, causing him to clam up. She looked at him with a degree of pity, telling him with half a smile, "I'm sorry it had to come to this...I really didn't _want_ to kill you."

Scaravich stopped rocking back and forth and looked Shina deep in the eyes. After a few seconds of contemplative silence, the beetle closed his eyes and smirked, whispering in response, "You know...when I look into your eyes now...I can believe you're telling the truth."

"...Heh, you know...It takes both a brave and foolish heart to go explore ruins. Guess mine was more foolish than brave..." Scaravich kept his eyes shut and relaxed in place as he lamented his predicament, "...I got a second chance at life, even if was just for a week. Go ahead...finish the job, lassie."

"...Don't worry, we'll take care of the Nightmare Virus for ya." Shina wanted to leave the Reploid with the tranquility of reassurance before she pulled the trigger, puncturing Scaravich's forehead straight through. The Reploid's head reeled back against the ground, and his body went still and silent.

A large Nightmare Soul rose up out of the corpse, and Shina extended her hand out to absorb it into her body. But as she did so, a wave of heat began to sweep over her backside. Feeling a pulse of power similar to a heartbeat, Shina glanced back and saw that Alex's blade was active, but it only lasted for a couple seconds.

"Huh...? What was that about? Was it...reacting to something?" She started to reach for it, when a slow and methodical tick-tock noise began to enter her eardrums. Before she could open her mouth or even blink, she was dragged straight through a warp tunnel at lightspeed, her body turning monochrome as it was desposited into another place.

" _Again with this? Why...now?"_ Shina paused and looked straight ahead. She was inside of an office that was much, much more fancy than what she was used to at Maverick Hunter HQ. In fact, she recognized the office as a location from the previous world she had been to. But what was strange wasn't that she was at this world again, but rather that she was looking right over at herself standing in front of Alex.

"That's...me? What am I..." She looked around and was quite perplexed, "I was...I was never here...right?"

Right now, her other self was being comforted with a hug by Alex, who stood stoic even as she blubbered tears of fear. The event lasted only a few seconds, with Alex turning around and saying to her after, "Don't run away...don't run away from living."

It was the first time she heard him, the real Alex, in almost a month. But here he was far more comforting than he was standoffish. Shina raised her hand and clenched the right side of her head, her mind being plagued with a scratching sound like nails on chalkboard, "Don't run away...don't run away from living..."

"I...I heard that...before?" Her memories became a muddled mess, but as she raised her head up and moaned in pain her body was pulled backwards through another tunnel. This time, she arrived on a battlefield that was in ruins, the skies stormy and oppressive in atmosphere. The air was suffocating, consumed by darkness.

" _Give me a break..."_ Shina groaned as she tried to push herself forward, hopefully to discover some point to these vague visions. It only took a couple steps for her to find a familiar sight, but a horrific one at that. Alex was hunched over, cradling Shina's body in his arms...Her _dead_ body.

One, hard thump pounded against her chest like a hammer beating a drum. Her body became stiff, and it was like she could feel her body sweating profusely. It was hard to breathe, and her vision grew faint and foggy.

Alex was approached by a demonic god in wolf-like armor, his body as pitch black as the skies around him. He raised his head and prepared to crush Alex's skull. Without the guidance of rationality, Shina swung her head forth and screamed at the top of her lungs, "WATCH OUT!"

Alex didn't have to avoid the attack. He took the claw without flinching, and let loose a burst of power that repelled the demon away. Then, Shina watched, unable to speak or move, as Alex howled out a painful screech while his body was torn apart along with the landscape around him. Golden flames swept across the lands, ripping magma free from below the surface and burning the lake to steam.

Alex rose in his Phoenix Form to confront the demon, but something was very, very wrong. Malice overflowed from his body, creating an aura resembling a Phoenix that could devour the Moon whole. His pure rage was breaking the world apart around him, and he didn't even seem to be aware of what he was doing. All his anger and sorrow was directed towards the demon, but Shina was so frightened that he couldn't even hear his screams.

Her body felt as though it was being hollowed out in the chest as she continued to watch what was happening, the pain too realistic to ignore.

"Alex...ALEX, STOPPP!" She closed her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs.

But, in a flash, the nightmare came to an end. She was back in the museum, her body restricted to the sensations any other Reploid would experience, which removed the cold sweat but doubled down on the fear.

"Haaaa...haaa...haaa..." She didn't know what to make of any of that. Nothing made sense, even though it all seemed so real. The event was familiar yet foreign, burdening her memories with an unending torment until a panicked cry from Alia penetrated her ears.

" _Shina?! Shina?! Are you there?!"_

"AHHH!" Shina's scream was pale and horrifying, but thanks to Alia she was able to snap back to reality in a second and respond to the navigator with heavy breaths between her words, "O-Oh...you...you scared me Alia..."

" _Your signal dropped for a second. I thought something had happened to you."_

"No...no...I'm...f-fine? ...Yeah, I'm fine!"

" _Oh good...Did you actually...did you actually managed to repel High-MAX?"_

"Yeah. And I took care of Ground Scaravich like you wanted...So...come here whenever you're ready!"

" _Right. Me and X will be there soon. Hang on tight."_

When Alia shut off the communication, Shina collapsed onto her palms and knees, tired from forcing herself to appear happy for Alia's sake.

" _Why...why did I have to see that? When did that...when did that happen...? Alex...was holding me...that was me...my corpse!"_

Breathing deep a few times, Shina slowly turned her head to face the right side of her body. She reached into the pocket, and pulled out the Gaia Temporis. Staring at it with squinted eyes, Shina couldn't ignore what had been happening any longer.

"You...you're doing this, aren't you? ...Why?" The stone didn't offer Shina anything but silence, and with a five-second long groan Shina fell flat on her stomach and rolled onto her back. Closing her eyes, she let the stone roll out of her fingertips and murmured, "I'm not asking for much...Please?"

" _...I'm...sorry..."_ A faint, tearful murmur entered Shina's ears, but at this point she could only swear that it was little more than a hallucination...

 _Next Time: The Nightmare Incarnation_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Zero Nightmare**

Back at Maverick Hunter HQ, X had made his way to the teleporter room, and the loud sound of metal scraping against metal trailed behind him. Looking back, he saw Alia struggling to push a large computerized container that came complete with a cylindrical funnel shaped exactly like X's own buster.

Once inside the room, Alia pulled away from the device and caught her breath while hunched over. Walking up beside her, X gestured his right hand out and said, "You should've let me handle it."

"Ha...don't worry..." Alia swallowed a big chunk of air as she paused, then lifted her head up and flashed a brief smile at her partner, "I needed the exercise."

X's smile was just a little bit weaker than hers, but his was nevertheless full of appreciation for her enthusiasm and humor in the midst of this conflict.

"Thanks Alia, but I can take it from here now." X then bent down and wrapped his arms around the device. With a lift as weightless as air, he hoisted the device over his right shoulder and gave a brief nod towards the navigator.

"...And just where do you think you're going?" Alia pondered in a rather forceful manner. X looked back with innocent confusion in his eyes and a slight tilt of the head.

"I haven't told you how to operate that device," Alia took a couple steps forward and then patted one hand onto X's back, gripping the fingers around the shoulder while staring him straight in the eyes to say, "I'm coming with you."

"...No, it's too dangerous." X shook his head and stared at her with just as much firmness as he could muster.

"That wasn't a request, X." Alia patted X on the back one more time then strolled her way over to one of the teleporters, pulling out the laptop from beside her right hip and tapping away at it. Standing still in the middle of the room, X stared at her with mouth partway agape, continuing even as Alia lifted her head up and gave off the vibe of nonchalance she tended to have.

"Well? Are you coming?"

"...Just don't do anything reckless." X hung his head and let out a deflated sigh, then dragged his feet along the ground to get onto the teleporter. The device scraped against the top part of the teleporter, but didn't break it. A couple seconds later, the two were warped away to the museum.

Thanks to Shina's efforts, the two were able to warp directly to her location without any interference from the enemy. Still lying on the ground, Shina widened her eyes and shot right up to her feet as a flash of light appeared behind her. With a frazzled look on her face and pistols thrust up on the defensive, she was just one millisecond away from clicking the triggers when X waved his left hand out and exclaimed, "Don't shoot! It's just us!"

"X?" Shina swung her weapons down and turned her head just a bit to the left, "And...Alia?"

Alia went stoic as she stepped forward and waved her right hand up with a simple greeting of, "Hey."

"Thank goodness, I thought I was being ambushed." With a short spurt of air from the mouth she swiped the barrel of one of her pistols along the forehead.

"Are you doing ok?" X pondered while approaching.

"H-Huh?" Shina gave a blank stare to X and puckered her lips, shaking her head a few times while insisting, "O-Of course I am! I'm just..."

Her gaze shifted to the left for a second then snapped back to the center of her eyes as she proclaimed, "Exhausted! Yeah! Fighting two enemies at the same time's left me winded...t-that's all."

"Well you can rest easy, I can handle the Zero Nightmare on my own." X said, planting the device square on the the ground in front of him.

Alia stepped up beside the device and connected her laptop to it via a USB cord, tapping away at the keyboard while Shina strolled up beside her. Looking at both her and the device she made in quick succession, Shina inquired, "Soooo...what does this thing do?"

"It's a storage container for the Nightmare Souls you've gathered. X, why don't you demonstrate how it works to Shina?" Alia didn't look away from the monitor as she gave her orders, "First, take your buster and put it in the slot on the opposite end of the device."

X raised his right buster up and with a nod of the head walked around the machine. Once lined up with the cylindrical slot, he jammed the buster clean inside it and heard a loud click.

"Good. Now, pretend you're preparing energy for a charge shot. The machine needs to recognize that exact same energy pattern for this to work."

X closed his eyes and keyed in on that exact frequency within his own buster. But as the energy was channeled into the front of his buster, the Hunter could sense a mere fragment of his power being flushed out, the feeling of it resembling a coarsing river. It was relaxing and painless, so much so that he didn't even recognize when the process had run it's course until Alia remarked, "Alright, that's good enough X."

He pulled his buster out and then looked up, flashing a brief expression of surprise as he found all the Nightmare Souls he gathered now swarming together in a condensed bundle, trapped within a neon forcefield as big as he was tall.

"Will this work?" X looked over to Alia, who raised left hand for just a second to give a thumbs-up.

"Positive. If you have any doubts, why not fire a charged shot at it?" Alia's request raised a brow or two from both parties around her, but any suspicions were blown aside once she raised her head and spoke with confidence, "Don't hold anything back either."

X took a couple steps back and raised his buster up. He charged with all his might, his buster looking set to burst apart by the time he fired. The charged shot smashed against the forcefield and caused the energy to ripple all around, but that was it. X lowered his weapon and glanced over at Alia, who smirked and chuckled for a couple seconds.

"Alright Shina, now it's your turn."

"How am I supposed to do this?" Shina blinked a couple times while holding up both her arms straight out from the chest, "I don't have any busters."

"The hole in the center should be juuuuust big enough for you to squeeze your hand through. If you feel your skin tingling, that means you've made contact with the right circuits."

"Alrighty..." Shina walked over to the device after X had stepped aside. Pulling back on her right hand and lining it up with the slot, Shina squinted her eyes and murmured, "Here we go..."

She thrust her fist into the slot with one straight-forward punch, then spread her fingers out once the hole had been passed. Each fingertip was tickled by a fresh spark, causing her body to shiver and both eyes to shut. She repeated X's method of channeling the Nightmare Souls into the device, but the sensation wasn't as pleasing as the initial sparks were. Once she was done, the forcefield had bulged out to double it's original size, looking more like a hot-air balloon set to burst.

"So, that's everything?" Shina inquired.

"Yes. Now all we have to do is stand back and wait." Alia unplugged her laptop from the device and gestured towards herself while stepping back. X and Shina followed her into the shadows underneath one of the arches in the room, with Alia tucking behind a pillar and holding her laptop out in front of the chest.

"Radar set...now just to boost the signal..." One gentle key tap was all that was necessary to get the Nightmare Souls storage unit pulsating with energy. The waves that emerged were as thin as clouds. The trio stood around in silence for a good ten minutes. Shina was half-asleep leaning against the left pillar, X had a firm grip on the Z-Saber on his back, and Alia had an unblinking stare focused on her monitor.

Then, a flash of light dropped down ten feet away from the device, and X snapped to attention with sword drawn at his side. He stared past the darkness, watching as that nightmarish incarnation of Zero twisted his head back and stared at the hundreds of Nightmare Souls ripe for the taking. The Zero Nightmare's smirk insulted X and made his body quiver with rage. Arching his brows down, X stepped out into the light and with a flick of the wrist drew the Z-Saber's blade.

"Be careful, X..." Alia whispered with a forlorn glare at his back as she stood up and pressed one button on the laptop, causing the Nightmare Souls container to be warped away. The Zero Nightmare, having had his attention directed towards X when he activated the Z-Saber, scowled and shifted his head towards where the device once stood.

"There's nowhere to run, Nightmare." X paused fifteen away from the living mockery and held the Z-Saber up in front of his chest. The Zero Nightmare swung his head forward to face X, but then reared it back and widened his smirk after dispelling what he perceived to be a meager bout of rage.

"So this is a trap...? For the 'ultimate robot', you really are a coward, X."

"Shut up," X tightened his grip on the Z-Saber and continued to stare past it with unwavering fury, "Draw your sword...And fight me!"

The Zero Nightmare's knees shivered, but he then shook his head and rested his hands up beside them as he commented, "You're not worth my time, X. The data doesn't lie...I can beat you in a nanosecond."

"Not even the real Zero could do that. What hope does a fake like you have?"

"Fake?" The Zero Nightmare extended his hands out as an ominous air loomed around his body, "But I **am** the real Zero...reborn."

X's grip threatened to crush the Z-Saber, but stopped before the first cracks could form and swung the blade at his hip, "My friend died giving this world a second chance at life! I won't let you make a mockery of his name any longer!"

"This world is on the brink of annihilation. Save it?" The Zero Nightmare tilted his head aside and reached for his own Z-Saber, pointing his smirk right at X.

"You couldn't even save Zero!" He lashed the length of his blade straight out and swung it a few times, firing off waves of raw power before he adjusted his stance so the Z-Saber was behind the right side of his head.

" _He positions himself just like Zero...He holds the blade just like Zero..."_ X's body was heavy, but the Z-Saber even more so. Pointing it out in front of his chest, X exclaimed, "I'll prove just how much of a fake you are!"

Then come...and face oblivion! The Nightmare dashed ahead and carved his blade along the air three times in broad curves of varying lengths. X swung the blade upward and struck the upper two attacks, the one aimed at his legs just grazing the kneecaps.

X swung the blade downward then quickly raised it up and sliced as far out left as the arm would extend, smashing into the Zero Nightmare's copied blade to send him sliding back. The fake's heels teetered off the edge before he leapt forward, slicing the air twice to attack X with crescent blades of energy.

X dashed underneath them both and turned right around as Zero landed and did the same, striking at him with a blunt stab forward with his blade. X blocked the attack with both feet planted to hold his ground, and Zero began to smash his Z-Saber in multiple times with all his might put into every blow. X was forced back little by little until he was at the edge, where Zero then drew his blade back in both hands and set it ablaze with flashing light.

Before X could finish blinking, the blade came down and struck him hard enough to crack his elbows. His body then was forced to go flying off the edge, the attack managing to split the hologram of the planet in the center of the museum's entrance. As gravity threatened to drag X down, he set his jet boots to full power and accelerated forward, taking advantage of the lull in the nightmare's attack to assault him with a dozen rapid-fire slashes across the body.

Each strike was as light as a feather in X's grasp, but also scarred the Nightmare just as much as a metallic one would. His body was thrown back, but he stabbed his Z-Saber into the ground to halt his movements. With a subtle growl, the fake rocketed forward and dragged his blade along the floor, tearing up everything in his wake. He swung it straight up and launched an energy wave that grew taller with every foot closer it got.

X planted his feet down and twisted them aside, swinging his blade to the right to cleave through the energy. Between the split, X saw 'Zero' diving at him while swinging his blade a few times to launch energy blades. X took each attack right in the center of his chest, followed by 'Zero' slicing down the front of his entire body in one fell swoop.

X stumbled back a couple feet, sparks flying out of a relatively minor wound, but came back swinging his blade rapidly out. 'Zero' did the same, repeating the same motions with more strength put into each blow. Dead even in technique, X went with the flow of combat and took the proper step backs to avoid losing his balance due to the Nightmare's strength.

" _Now!"_ X focused in on the wavering of power in his foe's strikes and then stabbed the Z-Saber between the lingering energy of the slices, puncturing the right of the Nightmare's chest with it's tip. The blade stuck in for a moment, and the Nightmare's arms limped by the hips.

Raising it's head, the fake stared into X's eyes as it's body was twisted up by distortions of static. Using it's left hand to grapple the wrist that held the real Z-Saber, 'Zero' pulled himself up, and for a second X could've sworn that the fake's colors were red. With a violent roar, the Nightmare picked X off the ground and threw him overhead, slamming him down onto his back.

'Zero' let go then leapt up, plummeting his blade down towards X's chest. The Hunter widened his eyes and rolled to the right, spinning his right leg out to trip the Nightmare the moment he landed. This gave X the break he needed to stand back up, but 'Zero' managed to do so at the exact same time. The two stared each other down then swung their blades out, locking them together with the back of their edges almost rubbing against their faces.

They pushed their feet to the point of the toes touching, though with 'Zero' pressing forward he was able to use his height and weight advantage to edge X's Z-Saber nearer to his face. The heat of the blade burned the eyes and blurred his vision, but X was not scared.

He pivoted the direction of his blade so it was extended more diagonally, then channeled all the strength from his legs into his arms. His metallic joints and muscles sprained and his body was dragged back with little effort on the Nightmare's end. But with his arms locked into place at his sides, X pushed the blade down and shifted his body to the left, bypassing the fake's blade and carving a wound down the right side of their body. X was a little worried when the fake Z-Saber still was swung, but luckily it only shaved off the top layer of metal off his right arm.

'Zero' reacted with a loud cry of anguish and his body began twisting up again, his face harboring a look of immense strain as electricity shot forth from his scar and left his arm looking inert. X paused, letting the burning sensation in his arm die down as he gripped onto the Z-Saber and walked clockwise around his foe.

"Give it up! It doesn't matter how much you copy him, you'll never match the real Zero's heart!" X didn't give the fake the benefit of his full attention as he mocked his very existence. The Nightmare's scowl rose up and covered most of the bottom half of his face, his pupils shrinking down to miniscule dots as a fiery rage hissed out between his teeth.

"What...what are you doing to me?!" The Nightmare howled, his voice inflamed by X's continued presence.

"Huh?" X stood perplexed for a second, watching as the fake's body stabilized and he immediately gripped the Z-Saber to sprint straight at his target. 'Zero' swung his blade up and X defended himself, but then the fake zipped behind him and made a swift hop to perform a downward slice. X received a cut to the back but didn't turn to strike back, waiting as 'Zero' sped to the right of him before swinging his right fist up, punching the fake square in the chest.

'Zero' let out a heavy gasp and staggered back, giving X the precious seconds he needed to turn around and cut him across the chest. The fake had his body twisted up once more, but responded with a stab of the Z-Saber forward. X dodged the strike by raising his left arm up, curling the fingers into a fist and smashing it right into the Nightmare's forehead.

X buried his fingers into the horizontal scar and pulled 'Zero' in closer, making certain the fake saw the rage in his eyes before he rammed their foreheads together. The jewel on their head cracked, and he stumbled back a good couple feet.

"The real Zero wouldn't make these mistakes!" X kept moving forward, both feet guided by the memory of his departed friend. 'Zero' raised his sword up but X forced it out of his hand by smacking the bottom of his wrist with the back of his hand.

"The real Zero would fight with all his heart!" Gritting his teeth into a scowl, 'Zero' swung his head around in desperation before locking onto Alia huddled in the corner. He raised his right arm and transformed it into a buster, but X took the Z-Saber and sliced through the bottom of the barrel.

"The real Zero...would protect the innocent!" X dropped the blade and wound the tightened fist back, staring deep into the fearful eyes of this fake as his heart burned with an inferno of rage.

"The real Zero...!" The jewel on X's forehead glowed bright, and his fist burned with a seething white energy as he swung it clean into the Nightmare's chest, "IS NOT THIS WEAK!"

'Zero' cobbled over as a shockwave erupted from his back, dropping to his knees in a matter of seconds as X pulled his fist back. Reaching his right hand towards the Hunter, the fake's vision faded before he collapsed unconscious on the ground. X closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the energy simmering down in his body.

"...It's over." He whispered.

X looked down at the fallen Nightmare even as Alia and Shina walked up to him, the navigator remarking, "Good work X. Now all we have to do is finish it off and the real Zero can rest easy."

Shina looked down at the fake and closed her eyes, holding her right hand down to examine it's aura. The cold sensation of fear had vanished, and in it's place was something...familiar. Her mumble of 'Huh?' did not go unnoticed by X, who witnessed her drawing her hand back against the chest.

Looking back down at the fake, X's thoughts were intruded upon by Alia's remark, "X, what's wrong? Why aren't you attacking?"

He closed his eyes and thought deep in silence, _"These orbs, which shall now be dubbed 'Nightmare Souls', seem to have the power to control inanimate objects, or even raise the dead back to life..."_

X opened his eyes and looked over at Alia, holding his hand out as she appeared ready to draw a pistol to finish the job herself, "Hold on a second!"

She froze her hand and stared X in the eyes. He looked serious, but deep down there was a hint of confusion in his pupils, "What? X, you're not making any sense here."

"Nothing about this situation makes sense..." X remarked while waving his hands, then bent down and turned his right hand into a buster to plant atop the fake's back.

"And if I'm right about this...then that'll just raise further questions about what's going on..." X hesitated, gritting his teeth and letting out a quiet gulp. Closing his eyes and focusing, X tried to recognize and copy the sensation he experienced via Alia's device. From there, his ability to adapt took care of the rest, as his buster only had to make a couple modifications in order to emulate the suction capabilities of said device.

"Ok...here we go!" X's buster reached into the fake's body and began to pull out the hundreds of Nightmare Souls had been gathered inside. It took a few seconds for X's body to experience the oppressive cold, and soon after his armor grew numb. Still, he held on, making certain not to leave a single soul behind.

As he endured the process, the fake's violet colors were flushed out...and replaced with a familiar shade of red.

Alia dropped her laptop right on the ground and almost broke it, then clasped her hands up against her mouth to seal her gasp. Shina's hand clenched up into a fist and her 'heart' beat faster.

X couldn't look away. Even when he finished and let out a hagged gasp, his gaze was locked onto the back of the 'fake'. He stood up, but his knees were weak. Looking down at the body, he didn't know what to believe was the truth anymore.

"Z...Zero...?" He whispered.

A second later, the body began to stir with a muffled groan, and their hands laid against the ground to try and prop upright. X held his buster up and aimed at the head of the 'fake' as they stood up, motioning to Alia to get behind him. Alia's feet were as stiff as concrete, and she stayed right there.

Once the 'fake' was upright, X kept his buster trained on their head as they laid one hand on the side of it and gave it a rough shake.

"Uuughh...where...where am I?" The voice was still unmistakenably Zero's, however, he was tired, like he had just dragged himself through a humid desert. Raising his head, the 'fake' focused on X and murmured, "X...? ...X, is that...you?"

When it took one step forward, X thrust his buster up and yelled, "D-Don't move!"

Zero paused and lowered his head, squinting his eyes until his vision was clear as day. With a quiet groan, Zero patted the scars on his body and then looked at them, letting out a raspy, "Wh-what...?"

He then stared at X some more and drew his hand out to murmur, "X...X it's me...Zero...What...how are you even-"

"I _don't_ believe you! I saw the real Zero die right before my very eyes! You might no longer be controlled by the Nightmare Virus, but you're still nothing more than a fake!" X teared up and his buster went shaky.

"...Nightmare...? ...Nightmare..." Zero lowered his head and seemed to find familiarity in that term. Then he jerked it right up and insisted with more energy to his please, "X...Come on X...I'm not a fake. Remember...there's only one true Zero..."

"...Prove it to me."

"Huh?"

"Tell me something that only the **real** Zero would know."

Zero paused and stood up, staring at the Hunter with a firm and unflinching look in his eyes. X did the same, and steadied his buster.

"That's the only way I'll know for sure..." X whispered.

Zero closed his eyes and crossed his arms. His memories were in a flurry, and pegging down one in particular proved a difficult task. But with his demeanor calm, he looked X in the eyes and told him, "When we defeated Sigma, you tried to push my body to safety. I only had half a body, and all you could do was drag yourself along the ground..."

Smiling, Zero continued, "But you didn't give up on me. With an undying fire in your eyes, you were determined to get me back by any means necessary...You didn't succeed X, but before I died..."

He extended his right hand out and leaned forward without a hint of fear, "I said...that **you** are my best friend."

X's buster dropped on the spot and hung by his hip. With mouth stammering agape, he could only whisper in a raspy voice, "It's...really you..."

"...Heh, guess I can't really be expected to die after all, huh?" Zero closed his eyes and smirked, but in that moment of vulnerability X went right in and embraced his friend with a hug. Zero widened his eyes for a moment and looked down. X held his embrace in silence, soft yet perfectly encapsulating Zero's body between his arms.

Though she was overflowing with joy, Alia couldn't help but snicker, and neither could Shina. Zero stared at them both for a bit then closed his eyes with a smile, "Alright X, I think that's enough."

X pulled his body back and looked away. If he could blush, his whole face would have been as red as Zero's armor.

"S-Sorry..." X apologized right away, but then brightened up with a smile as wide as his face as he looked Zero straight on. Even now, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I can't believe you're alive as well X." Zero grinned.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" X gave his friend a bit of an insulted glare.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it, you looked in no condition to make it back to base. Did Alia come and pick you up?" Zero turned to the navigator, who shook her head once.

"Actually..." Shina's voice grabbed Zero's attention, and hastily the girl explained, "After you kicked the bucket all of Zero Space went up in flames. Like 'Kaboom!' Everything gone!"

"...What?" Zero looked even more confused than he did a second ago.

"Yeah. If it wasn't for Dr. Light's hologram, X and I woulda been toast for sure."

Zero blinked a couple times then shook his head, waving one hand out before raising it to the side of his head and looking as though he was straining himself to think, "Hold on a second..."

"I get how you two survived now, but..." Zero tilted his gaze towards Shina and inquired, "If you're still here, just how long was I dead for this time?"

"Three weeks, more-or-less." Shina responded.

"...Three weeks? Huh, that's...not very long at all." Zero crossed his arms against his chest. Though his nonchalance was expected, X had the misfortune of having to hit his friend with a heaping helping of reality.

"Zero, you were **dead**. Alia, Shina and I scoured all of the Crash Site in search for your parts and couldn't come up with anything," X's stern and worried glare was enough to get Zero focused, "...How...how are you still alive?"

"...I wish I knew X." Zero lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"You don't know anything?" Alia pondered.

"Nothing." Zero insisted.

"Drawin' a blank huh?" Shina added to the persistence.

"The last thing I remember is the same thing X and you witnessed. I'm still wondering how the heck I got to this museum, or why X called me a 'fake'..."

"...There's a lot we need to catch you up on." Alia remarked after a deep sigh.

"Well, I guess it'll be a good way to pass the time while I'm getting repaired..." Zero smirked with a dry wit to his tone.

"It's glad to have you back Zero." X bent his right arm up in front of his face.

"Yeah, good to be back, X." Zero raised his own arm up and the two hit them together, each giving the other a nod.

Then, widening his eyes for a moment, X pulled his hand back and stammered, "Oh that's right!"

"Hmmm?" Zero followed his arm with curiosity, and X took out the Z-Saber and held it's active blade out along the front of his chest.

"Here...this rightfully belongs to you."

"...Keep it X, it's yours now." Zero closed his eyes and had a smile full of pride.

"What? No no, take it!" X pushed the Z-Saber forward, but was halted by Zero's hand pressing against the knuckles.

"I'm serious. Besides, I think it fits you."

"I can't deprive you of your weapon..."

"Don't worry about that," Zero glanced to the right and then gestured his thumb in the direction of the fake Z-Saber while looking at Alia, "Think you can fix that up to work just like my old one?"

"Yeah, I definitely can. I'll work on that while you're getting repaired." Alia gave a thumbs up, and then with a shrug and a sly smile Zero remarked, "Guess that's that X."

"...Alright." X put the blade right on his back, but still found that it was a little heavy to wield.

"So, now that that's all wrapped up, why don't we mosey on back to HQ before the enemy shows up?" Shina waved a thumb over her shoulder and got the rest of the group's attention.

"I agree. Let me just set the coordinates and we can leave this place behind..." Alia tapped away at her laptop, while Shina stared at X and Zero with some jealousy seeping into her mind.

" _...Everything's worked out for those two, but I'm still not any closer to finding Alex...Where are you, Alex?"_ The group was then warped out of the museum...

 _Meanwhile, in a certain laboratory..._

High-MAX lies atop a massive operating table, his body deactivated as the plating on his chest was torn right off, revealing his complex machinery. At his side with an electronic tablet in his right arm was Gate, who stared back at forth between the two objects with an analytical hum.

"How did that Reploid manage to hurt you...If I can just figure out the cause..." His contemplative murmurs were interrupted by the sound of doors sliding beside him. Gate stood in place and offered his company only a slight gaze over the shoulder.

"Oh, Isoc. Come to update me on the progression of the Nightmare Virus, have you?"

The other scientist twisted his stiff metallic mustache as he walked in, carrying an air of nonchalance around him as he remarked, "I'm afraid that's not the only news I bring, Gate. It's regarding the 'Zero Nightmare'..."

Gate turned his head a little more and his glare narrowed. Isoc stood still and tucked both his arms back, faking a cough before explaining, "It seems the Maverick Hunters have somehow managed to extract the Nightmare Virus from him."

"...Somehow. Hmph, sounds to me like you underestimated what they are capable of." Gate went back to looking at his tablet, pulling a window of data down as he made his rounds around the table.

"You...don't sound concerned about this development." Isoc raised his brows and was quite perplexed.

"What does it matter if that old relic is back in their possession? I have already gotten everything I ever wanted out of him." Gate gave a gentle shrug.

"Yes, yes...You did manage to decode 99.76% of Zero's DNA with the samples we found. Not even those fools Cain and Doppler could manage that, even if they pooled their insignificant brains together!" Isoc raised his fist in praise of his fellow scientist.

"Don't lessen your own accomplishments, doctor. You were the one who rebuilt Zero, after all. Without you, this entire plan of mine would've been for naught," Gate flashed a smile that was nothing but smug, as he then took the opportunity to shower himself with praise, "You can be rest assured that, come the birth of my new, better world, you have secured your spot as the second most intelligent Reploid."

"Still...I wonder if it was a wise idea to let the Maverick Hunters have Zero back so soon..." Isoc rubbed his chin and raised his right brow.

"The 'Zero Nightmare' served it's purpose. Distrust in the Maverick Hunters is at an all time high, and the existence of the 'Zero Nightmare' was the perfect bait to lure the weak and stupid into the hungered maws of my Nightmare Viruses."

"Yes...Plans are proceeding smoothly on that end. Soon the Nightmare Virus will multiple and consume all those unworthy to wield it's power, and the rest shall remain under your control."

"Hmmm...there are a couple matters that must still be tended to in the meantime." Gate only looked the slightest bit bothered as he spoke that, his attention focused more on digging into the circuitry of High-MAX.

"Ah yes, our little runaway traitor. Do not worry, I have the Nightmare Investigators on high alert for his presence."

"I wonder if one Nightmare Investigator alone will be enough to handle him..."

"He is a showboater and nothing more. If your unit can't handle him, then they will pay the cost with their lives."

"Bite your tongue, Isoc," Gate pierced Isoc's thick metal frame with a glare all the way across the room, "I will not tolerate you treating my grand creations as your own personal pawns. Do you understand me?"

"...L-Loud and clear, Gate." Isoc shivered for a second.

"Good," Gate snapped back to work with little pause, "Now then, about that _other_ matter."

"...You're referring to the mass disappearance of Reploids and Nightmare Viruses outside of the eight areas the Investigators were sent to, correct?"

"I could hardly care less about the loss of a few Reploids, but whatever or whoever's interferring with the infestation of my virus needs to be stopped at any cost."

"I wish we could track the instigator, but our radars and cameras aren't picking anything up. It's almost like they're invisible..."

"Or generating a constant EMP field..." Gate murmured.

"A Reploid with a self-maintaining EMP field? Is such a thing even possible?"

"Well, if we can hunt down this particular nuisance, we'll be sure to find out," Gate then brushed his left hand out and murmured, "Now then, leave me be. I must finish analyzing the damage to High-MAX."

"Very well. I know better than to interrupt your progress, Gate." Isoc bowed his head and then departed in silence. When the doors were shut, Gate peered at them for a few seconds and then looked back down at his tablet. With a tap towards a window at the top, he pulled up prime footage of X and Shina's confrontations with his Nightmare Investigators.

" _Alia? Alia, respond!"_

" _Alia, hurry up!"_

Gate's lips cracked as he spread them apart into a frightening grin, his eyes glowing bright green as the pupils shrank and narrowed. Trembling all across with excitement, he spoke with unclear focus and a raspy glee, "Alia...My dear, sweet, _foolish_ Aliiiaa...You'll see...They'll _ALL_ see...How foolish it was to look down upon my brilliance...Yes...Soon, _soon_ , my genius shall change this world forever!"

 _Next Time: Back in Action_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Raging Volcano, Blaze Heatnix**

Zero's return to the Maverick Hunter HQ was...hectic, to say the least. The few Reploids that were around at the time tried to swarm him with questions on how he could've possibly survived, what he had been up to, and how he was feeling. X and Shina tried their best to ease the crowds' rambunctious push towards their revived comrade, but it was only once Zero made it to his old, familiar capsule that they had no choice but to zip their lips and get back to work.

For the next hour or so, Alia worked on fixing up the second Z-Saber to Zero's specifications, while X and Shina loitered around Zero's capsule waiting for him to finish being repaired. In their eyes, he looked as snug as a baby bundled in a warm blanket. It was almost a shame that Zero wouldn't even realize how content he was by the time he woke up.

Once he was out of the capsule, Zero looked good as new, and he thanked X for bringing his capsule back to base. The brief gesture of appreciation was followed by Zero suggesting that their immediate course of action should be to let Signas know that he was alive. After getting in contact with Alia to let her know where they were going, the three headed off to the command center.

Inside, they were lucky to find that Signas was already there with his gaze centered on the entrance. His subtle smile was the first thing the group saw, and without a pause in their approach Shina murmured, "Guess word traveled fast..."

"Commander." Zero looked Signas in the eyes and gave a quick salute, stopping a few feet away.

"Zero," Signas returned the salute but held it just a little longer as he spoke with a casual workplace tone, "Welcome back."

"Things sure haven't gotten any quieter since I left, have they?" Zero smirked and withdrew his hand to his chest, where both his arms were crossed and his expression turned stern.

"I suppose you haven't been brought up-to-date then? X, Shina, I shall leave that in your hands."

"Right," X faced his friend and gestured his arms out, "We're dealing with an epidemic of a new virus called the Nightmare Virus. From what we've gathered so far, it's a sentient creature that targets Reploids that experience intense bouts of feat and infects them, turning them into walking, undead abominations."

"The viruses are fueled by Nightmare Souls, which are those strange blue orbs that X sucked outta ya. With enough of them, the Nightmare Souls can even bring back dead Reploids!" Shina exclaimed.

"...Bring back dead Reploids, huh?" Zero murmured to himself while continuing to listen intently, "So you don't have any idea where this virus came from?"

"Not yet. All we know is that the virus seems to be connected to a Reploid scientist named Isoc, a very powerful Reploid by the name of High-MAX, and this group of eight revived Reploids known as the Nightmare Investigators."

"Wait did you just say Isoc? Isn't that the guy who was MIA after the Repliforce incident?"

" _Again with that...Guess it's just another change in the timeline I gotta roll with..."_ Shina shook her head a bit then blurted out, "Yeah! That jerk was trying to frame you as the cause of the Nightmare Virus! Thanks to him a bunch of Reploids are probably running around prime for infection!"

"The origin of the Nightmare Virus? That's ridiculous! I'm only responsible for the Maverick Virus, they should know that..." Zero peered back as he sensed X lowering his head to avert his gaze, then upon turning around the rest of the way he was slow to ask, "You...did tell the public the truth, didn't you?"

"We're sorry Zero, but we felt it was better to keep that a secret from the populace. The last thing we need is for the remnants of society to become disorganized." Signas took the weight off X's mind with an on-the-spot answer, giving the Hunter some material to work with when he was done.

"I'm sorry Zero, it was ultimately my call, and I didn't want general opinion to turn on you like it did Repliforce..."

"Haaaa, I guess that explains the warm welcome back..." Zero closed his eyes and drooped his arms in retreat, "Still, you probably made the right call...even if it's come back to bite us."

"Dont'cha get down in the dumps about it Zero!" Shina patted the robot firm on his left shoulder, knowing he could take it, "Busting viruses is just like busting Mavericks. Shoot 'em, cut 'em, and the problems' solved!"

"If only it were that simple. We can rescue the Reploids before they get infected, but if we don't find the source of the virus then all our efforts are going to be in vain." X remarked, unable to crack a smile even towards Shina's abundant optimism.

The four looked dour for just a couple seconds, but then the doors swung open and Alia's voice echoed across the room, "If you're still looking for a way to track down the source of the Nightmare Virus, then I have a couple suggestions."

She made her way to the center of the room and connected the laptop to the projector, popping up the locations of the remaining six areas under investigation, "One, we take down the remaining Nightmare Investigators. If the investigators are connected to the one behind the virus like we suspect, then defeating them will draw the perpetrator out of hiding."

"Sounds good to me!" Shina exclaimed, but Zero brushed his hand aside and curbed her enthusiasm by mentioning, "What if that fails? What's our plan B?"

"Two..." Alia did a little more typing than slammed her entire hand flat against the keyboard as the map of the world was replaced with a full-frame picture of Isoc, "We take down Isoc and then scavenge his memory banks to find the perpetrator's base."

"Take down...Isoc?" X blinked twice then waved his arms out with an expression full of doubts, "Hold on a second. Shouldn't we be working under the assumption that Isoc's behind the virus? He's the one who tried to frame Zero in the first place."

"...I know this is strange, but I'm thinking about this like Sigma would..." Alia murmured, slowly swiveling towards the screen of her laptop while explaining, "If I was behind a wide-scale virus outbreak like this, why would I, the one responsible, expose myself to my enemy and give them a chance to stop me?"

"Oh I get it! You're saying Isoc's just a lackey working for the real bad guy!" Shina exclaimed with a thunderous clap of her hands, her face brightening up with pride at her answer.

"Exactly!" Alia snapped her right fingers back as she turned to look at her, then lifted her entire body away from the laptop and said, "If I had to guess, Isoc's second-in-command for this operation."

"Hard to imagine he'll be easy to track down." Zero remarked.

"The guy's arrogant with a capital 'A'." Shina said with a blunt shrug of the shoulders.

"I'm positive he'll slip up at just the right time and then 'BAM!'" She pounded her fist into an open palm, "He'll be caught like a fly in glue!"

"For now we should take care of the investigators," Zero looked towards Alia and asked, "Set the coordinates for one of the areas under invesigation. I'll head out immediately."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You just got back to base and haven't undergone any tests. You may not be operating at full capacity." Signas heeded.

"Then consider this a test run." Zero said with confidence.

"Hmmmm..."

"I think Zero's more than ready to head-out," X spoke up, but then stammered an apologetic smile as he said, "I-If that's alright with you, Commander."

"...Alia?" Signas glanced past his left shoulder.

With a flick of the wrist, Alia tossed an inactive Z-Saber handle to Zero and said, "Just make sure not to break this in too much."

Zero grabbed it out of the air and turned right around, sticking the handle to his back as he headed for the door. With a wave of the hand beside his face he said, "I'll be back before you know it."

"...He doesn't even know where he's going." Shina murmured as Zero left the doors sliding shut behind him.

"Don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye on him." Alia said, adjusting the position of her headset while holding the laptop up in one hand. Then, she retreated to her desk after giving the others a thumbs-up.

Zero makes his way to the teleporter and stared at it for a couple seconds. Taking a deep breath, he wiggled his arms a little and flexed his fingers, then walked onto the capsule. Overcome with a familiar flash of energy, Zero's entire body warped off to a new location in an instance.

The moment he was dropped out of the transportation process, Zero felt the temperature around him increase tremendously. The ground below him was cool and stable, but cracked and with visible signs of hardened magma between them. Looking around, he saw a multitude of copper pipes siphoning lava from the ground, leaving behind a hellish violet fire that waved around without making a sound.

"...Hrrmmm..." Bothered only a bit by the phenomenon occurring down below, Zero pulled back and advanced forward. At the edge of the pathway he looked over and saw a machine hovering along the ground, seemingly on patrol. It's design struck Zero was odd, as it appeared to be a crimson dragon coiled up like a ring, with it's fanged jaw biting into it's tail. It didn't appear to have any mounted defenses, nor even any sockets for a hidden arsenal.

"Alia, I've encountered a Mechanoloid I've never seen before. Any details on it?" Zero kept his distance as the navigator prepared an answer.

" _Mechanoloid? The signal I'm detecting doesn't match any Mechanoloid in our database..."_ There was a couple second pause before Alia remarked, _"Hold on! It seems that machine is some kind of variation on the Nightmare Virus."_

"Is that right?" Zero reached for his Z-Saber and swung it out activated, glaring down at the enemy while declaring, "Alright. Engaging target!"

He pushed his feet further off the edge of the platform, but as he prepared to leap his feet lost balance and he flew face-first towards the ground. Crashing down full force, the Hunter was dazed for a couple seconds and his sword rolled out of his hand.

The Nightmare halted in the center of the room and then pivoted around, it's strangely positioned head locking onto Zero's location. The entire thing pushed forward rather slow, but the green bulbs around it's body flashed and fired off a series of homing projectiles at Zero's location.

The Hunter widened his eyes then grabbed up his Z-Saber, rolling to the left out of the way and rising to his feet with a bothered teeth grit. Grabbing the blade in both hands, he held it above his right shoulder and gathered energy within. When the blade let out a brief, blinding flash he swung it forward and sent a crescent wave towards the bottom right bulb.

A single cut was all it took to shatter the glass and disable the energy projector behind it, but the remaining three fired off faster than before to compensate. Zero sliced his blade out in three separate attacks that came out in the same second, slicing through the projectiles with clean ease. He paused at the end of his strikes for a second and pulled back on the Z-Saber. It felt lighter, almost weightless, but the way the blade swung was still a natural fit for his style of fighting.

Having analyzed this in a second, Zero was primed and ready to take down the strange Nightmare. He awaited it's approach and kept the blade held in one hand, slicing down all the projectiles that came his one in one precise cut. When the Nightmare was an inch away from his body, Zero shot straight up and knew his target would move just a couple inches further into position.

With a couple somersaults, Zero plummeted straight down to the center of the Nightmare with blade armed full of energy, "HYOURETSUZAN!"

His blade stabbed into the spine of the strange beast, and though it let out a roar with a subterranean echo the Z-Saber had failed to breech through. Zero raised his brows then was thrown for a loop, as the Nightmare rolled around and dragged his body through the ground. The pain was brief and would not be repeated, for Zero pulled himself out and leapt away, landing with an acrobatic roll on the ground.

Spun around to face his foe, Zero reached for his helmet right as Alia remarked, _"I'm sorry. I should've told you...I didn't have enough to re-install all your old techniques."_

"That's fine. I don't need them to scrap this pile of bolts!" Zero kicked up running straight for the exposed backside of the Nightmare, stabbing his blade straight through the bulb in his path. He then pierced deeper in by grabbing the handle in both hands, and followed up by ripping right through the back of the beast with a leaping slice.

Down to it's last line of defenses, the Nightmare spun around to aim the final bulb at the descending Zero, channeling all it's energy into a singular laser. With just one hand, Zero swung the Z-Saber straight down the center of the laser and parted it's course, then swung his blade again to send a crescent wave at the bulb. When that shattered, the rest of the Nightmare followed suit. Starting from the circumference of the last bulb, the serpentine machine cracked apart and then erupted with explosions.

Walking away as the Nightmare let off one massive blast, Zero looked down at his Z-Saber for a moment then went through the nearby door. Inside a mechanized shaft, Zero noticed the temperature was just a tiny bit cooler, but it increased in short bursts every few seconds. Advancing with caution, he was contacted by Alia before he reached the end of the first platform.

" _Looks like you're performing just fine Zero!"_ Alia spoke optimistically.

"I made too many errors. I should've destroyed that Nightmare in half the time." Zero closed his eyes and let out a quick sigh.

" _Don't let it get you down. This is your first mission in a while. You'll shave that rust off in no time."_

"Yeah..." Zero kept a move on down through the shaft with a cautious heart. There were a few fire spewing vents along the way, but he either waited them out or dashed underneath to keep a move on. He encountered a few of the real Nightmare Viruses, and though their presence disturbed him for a few he had an easy time cutting them down like they were any other Maverick. As he neared the bottom of the shaft, he remarked in confusion, "I thought there were other Reploids being lured to these locations?"

" _I doubt many of them are equipped to handle a volcano."_

"Lucky us..." Zero said with a grim tone. Dropping out of the shaft, he landed in an enclosed, rectangular space with a metallic door behind him. He faced it and gave it a couple taps with his right knuckles, but it wouldn't budge.

"Must be a guard positioned nearby..." Zero turned around and only had to take a couple steps before he saw another one of those Nightmare Dragons rounding the corner.

"There's more than one?!" Zero was a bit surprised and drew his blade for combat.

" _Or it could be the same one brought back to life. Either way, take it down like you did before!"_

"Roger!" Zero rushed ahead and took out the frontal bulb with a slice before the machine could detect his presence. The tighter corridors meant Zero would have to bide his time to strike the upper bulbs, so he retreated with a long leap and took a moment to observe his surroundings.

The outcrop of rock in the very center of the room seemed to be loose, so with some quick calculations Zero leapt up and performed a swift slice to send a crescent wave through the back of the outcrop. This caused the rocks to avalanche atop the Nightmare's upper bulbs, the weight of them combined pushing the machine down to the floor. With a grating creak, the bottom of the Nightmare split in two and caused the remaining bulb to smash against the ground.

Zero landed and looked away from the exploding machine, heading for the door with a cool head and confident remark of, "There. That's more like it..."

One of the larger rocks caught up in the blast flew straight towards Zero's back, but he swung his sword back without budgding his head an inch and cut it in half as he proceeded through the unlocked door. Here there was another door straight ahead, but also a passage going upward.

" _There's some heavy Nightmare output coming through the door...Probably another one of those machines."_

"Any signs of Reploids?" Zero pondered.

" _None from what I can tell."_

"Hmm, alright..." Zero thrust his left hand up and turned it into a buster, then fired at a small outcrop of rocks above the door. Dislodged from the wall, the rocks caved in the door and sealed it off.

"That'll keep that Nightmare from causing trouble." Zero then swung his head up and leapt for the ledge right above. Climbing up, Zero encountered some more Nightmare Viruses and cut them down without breaking a sweat. His ascension through the rocky shaft was smoother than the descent through the previous one, thanks in part to a lack of those Nightmare Dragon.

As he reached the very top of the area, Alia halted him with an urgent notice, _"Wait a second Zero! I'm detecting the energy of a Dr. Light capsule in your vicinity."_

"...One of those capsules huh?" Zero raised his right brow then glanced back, a slow gaze upward leading him to a hidden ledge, where the top of a Dr. Light capsule poked into view. Using the wall opposing the capsule as a leaping off point, Zero landed a foot away from it and sheathed his blade on the back. Folding both arms up against the chest, he remained perfectly still as the capsule opened up and the hologram of Dr. Light emerged.

"Doctor..."

" _Ah, Zero. So, you have returned to the land of the living once again. I must say, even I'm surprised by this."_ Dr. Light welcomed the robot with a smile, and as he looked at him Zero couldn't sense any hostility between the two.

"Yeah, same here..." Zero was still uneasy, causing him to force his concerns upon the doctor without hesitation, "Say doctor...are you the one who repaired me?"

" _..."_ Dr. Light's gaze narrowed and his lips sunk down a little, with his stare focusing on Zero's eyes.

" _Zero, the Nightmare Virus is what brought you back to life."_ Alia pointed out, worried about Zero's memories.

"That's just it, the Nightmare Virus revives dead Reploids. Thanks to X, I don't have any traces of the virus left inside of me," Zero paused for a second as Alia let out a quiet gasp, "Get what I'm saying?"

" _Hrrrmmm..."_ Dr. Light closed his eyes and hummed. Zero then looked at him and waved a hand out from his armfold to remark, "I was rebuilt by someone, THEN was infected with the virus. And who else could've rebuilt me but you?"

" _I'm afraid you give me too much praise Zero...I may be an expert in robotics, but I know nothing about your framework. Even if I did, it would require me to possess a physical form for much longer than I did to repair X and Shina combined."_

"Then...someone else repaired me." Zero shook a little, as though he was greeted by a ghost.

" _...That would appear to be the case."_

"Who could have done it?"

" _Cain and Doppler put you back together the last time, but that was after your pieces were already restored..."_ Alia interjected.

"...Now that you mention it, I never did find out who repaired me the first time." Zero thought about that then looked at Dr. Light. The way the hologram expressed itself bothered the robot, especially when combined with the doctor's permeating silence.

"You know something about all this, don't you?"

Dr. Light opened his eyes and unburdened his stress with a sigh. With a natural relaxation to his posture, he stared Zero right in the eyes and said, _"I owe you at least one answer."_

"Just one? So you know a lot more than you're letting on..." Zero stared in accusation, piercing right through the holographic visage before him.

" _...The one who repaired you the first time was the X-Hunter known as Serges."_

"Serges? He was the brains of the operation..." Zero thought about this information a little more, and with a sharp widening of his eyes he came to a revelation, "Wait! The X-Hunters also brought Sigma back to life!"

" _Huh? What are you talking about Zero? Sigma's always come back to life on his own..."_ Alia murmured, but Zero thought differently on the subject. Sigma's words to him came to mind at that moment.

" _You see, after I acquired the Maverick Virus, I met up with and formed an alliance with the doctor to try and reawaken Zero to his true purpose..."_

" _Hahaha! You should thank your creator, Zero, for it is because of him that I am able to use this ultimate battle body!"_

" _Yeah! That jerk was trying to frame you as the cause of the Nightmare Virus!"_ Shina's words were conjoined to an image of Isoc, which Zero flashed between seeing that and a brief appearance of the X-Hunter Serges. Flashing between the two Reploids like a slideshow set on turbo, it soon reached the point of Zero seeing a certain "W" symbol, and the same shadow of a man with a bushy mustache hovering over his unconscious body.

"..." The right of Zero's face grimaced, but he kept calm and shook his head a little before apologizing, "Sorry...I must have been overthinking things."

Dr. Light's eyelids drooped partway, and he tucked his arms back before saying, _"Forgive me. I wish I could tell you more, but this is a puzzle that you must piece together on your own from here on out..."_

Zero looked up, and the doctor continued, _"Sigma may be gone, but has the truth truly been uncovered? ...Does it WANT to be uncovered? It's hard to say..."_

"I'll decide for myself on that, but at least now there's a lead to go on..." Zero said, his emotions stable.

" _Now then, I do believe there is an armor part I wish to give to X. This capsule contains a piece of the Shadow Armor. When assembled, the Shadow Armor shall grant X the agility and dexterity of a ninja, and allow him to bypass all manner of traps. I hope you will be able to help him assemble this armor, Zero, and continue to be a good friend to him."_

"I don't think X needs me to watch his back anymore, doctor." Zero smiled for a brief moment.

With a soft giggle, the doctor's hologram vanished and allowed Zero entrance. He went through the procedure in a couple seconds, then got off the platform. Dr. Light didn't return, and the capsule sealed up tight. After looking back for a second, Zero reached for his helmet and asked, "Alia, find out any information you can for me on Serges."

" _I'll try my best, but it may take some time. I'll let you know when I have results..."_

"Alright. I'll keep going after the investigator." Zero pulled his blade out and leapt off the ledge, running forward to another door. He found himself inside of a tall elevator shaft with a series of platforms leading to the top. There were some platforms down below, but they seemed to connect to the room he avoided earlier. As soon as he set foot on one of the platforms the whole shaft started rocking like the inside of a blender.

Zero dropped to his knees and grabbed the edge of the platform, looking down to see that the strange purple lava was rapidly rising. Not only that, but another Nightmare Dragon was charging straight up through the hellish flames.

"Shoot...!" Zero leapt back in the nick of time as the Nightmare smashed through the platform and split it in two, one half just grazing the side of his body as he stuck to a wall. Diving back down, the machine repositioned itself to Zero's location and rose again.

Zero leapt to the other side of the room and rolled onto a platform, then used his agility to scale his way through the shaft before the lava could catch him. But the speed of the Nightmare was greater, and it was about to charge at him once more when the Reploid's patience reached it's limit.

"Enough of this!" Zero reeled his right fist back and channeled energy in it to the point of it releasing a bright flash. When the Nightmare smashed through the platform, Zero smashed his fist straight into it's back and exclaimed, "REKKOHA!"

Zero's counteracted the tremors with more unstable versions of his own, followed by summoning a rain of light beams that tore the helpless Nightmare to shreds. Zero used what stability the machine still had to leap up to higher ground, watching as the many scraps of the mighty dragon burned apart in the lava. He made a mad dash for the door behind him, and after passing through it sealed up tight to prevent the lava from seeping in.

He then moved onward, going through the door at the end of the small hallway to find himself in a wide-open room. There was no lava, but a bed of pure, bubbling magma off to the left. Like the lava though, the magma was tainted, looking more like a sea of pure poison.

"Ha! I knew some interesting prey would show up eventually!" A boisterous caw burrowed into Zero's ears from behind, causing him to look that way right as a bird-shaped mass of fire dove straight at him. Ducking evaded the assailant, and Zero drew his Z-Saber in the time it took to stand.

The being rose and spun a few times around to disperse the fire, save for the embers that seemed to be a permenant part of it's shoulder and chest plates. Spreading out red feathered wings that were each as big as its body, the Reploid maintained flight in the center of the room and stared down Zero with a face resembling the common depiction of the majestic Phoenix. The Reploid's fists remained tense in the way they were clenched, and their right eye was twitching while he wore an overeager grin.

"So, you must be after my Nightmare Souls, eh...Zero Nightmare?!"

"You got the wrong idea. I'm the one and only Zero." Zero swung his Z-Saber skyward, pointing the tip right at his foe's head.

"The one and only...?" The Reploid peered his eyes open wide for a second then squinted to get a better look at his company. Only then did his grin turn into a sneer, "Oh right, that dimwit Isoc did say something like that. So? What about it?"

"You Investigators are leading the Reploids astray. Using them as fuel for your disgusting virus!"

"Hey, I had nothing to do with that! You want to point your sword at anyone, point it at Isoc! But hey, what's it matter anyways? Those weaklings are finally being put to good use!" The Reploid exclaimed without a care in the world.

"You're not helping your case there, Maverick!"

"Oh boo-hoo! Like I give a damn about something like that! All I want is to fight the strongest Reploids there are! And since that hot-head Magma Dragoon kicked the bucket, you're about as prime of a prey as they can get!"

"You knew Magma Dragoon?"

"Heh, you're a Maverick Hunter right? Guess that guy must've gone Maverick at some point!" The Reploid shrugged his shoulders and remarked in a gruff manner, "Oh well! I won't go down at all! I'll defeat all the strongest Reploids, and reign supreme!"

"Who even ARE you?"

"Uuuugh, if I tell you will we finally get on with this fight?!" The Reploid rolled as his eyes and hung his head back for a moment, then bursting into flames more intense than the magma that surrounded him, he hollered out a boisterous screech, "The name's Blaze Heatnix! Time for you to meet your end at my flames, Zero!"

Heatnix opened his mouth and fired off a volley of three large yellow-white fireballs, each containing the explosive power of a live grenade. Zero leapt over them all and grazed the tops of the blasts, then swung his sword out to send a crescent wave at his foe. Heatnix swiped his heated claws at empty air, sending out an equal sized wave of fire to intercept the attack.

The push of air released from the attacks' collision grounded Zero a few feet back, where he had but a second to mount a defense as the phoenix came diving in. Heatnix threw his fist out into the blunt edge of the Z-Saber, twisting his knuckles clockwise to apply more force into the blow. Zero was sent skidding back to the door, and with two flaps of the wings Heatnix sent burning feather arrows straight after him.

Zero dashed low and got in close to Heatnix, hitting his chest with an uppercut slash and then barreling down with a spinning slice to deliver a few more cuts. Before Zero could land, Heatnix stamped the ground with his right talons and caused a small plume of fire to erupt underneath him.

The phoenix rose up and grabbed Zero by the sides of his head, pulling it in closer to peck it rapidly with his fiery beak. Zero maintained enough consciousness to kick his feet into Heatnix's chest, but it took two strikes from them before he was forced to let go.

Heatnix cupped his fists together and dunked them towards Zero's head, the Hunter raising his sword up across his palms to defend himself. Zero crashed against the ground with a wave of fire spreading from his feet, being forced to kneel on one leg for a second right after. Then, Heatnix swiped his right fingers up, and Zero could feel the temperature rising heavily below him.

Without even looking, Zero leapt up to higher ground before a wave of that purple lava rose up to consume him. Heatnix dove into the lava and flew around as though it was a thin as air, getting right below Zero's platform before smashing through it in a furious blaze. Zero got to another platform at the last possible second, then turned around and sliced an energy wave towards his foe.

The attack struck dead on to the wounds inflicted earlier, deepening the cut to the point of exposing wires. Heatnix glazed over the wounds with a heated palm to seal them up, then spread his wings up high and channeled flames into the center of his beak, launching a long flamethrower straight at Zero.

The Hunter divided the flames in twine with a single cut performed double-handed, then kicked himself forward like a rocket to ram his shoulder right into Heatnix's chest. The Reploid was forced back three feet but barely seemed winded, while Zero repelled off the body to land back on safe ground. Heatnix grinned and swiped his left hand down, making the lava retreat into the ground while another bunch of it descending from the ceiling.

Zero vaulted to lower ground, where he was ambushed by two fire waves in rapid succession. Heatnix crossed his claws together for a combined "X" shaped wave, but Zero was able to cut it down with a casual swipe of the blade. He then ran ahead and swung his blade out in a broad right arc, almost cutting off the Reploid's entire left shoulder as he descended.

In the midst of spinning around, Heatnix committed to the motion and jabbed the sharp back talon on his right foot into Zero's backside. The Hunter flew and bounced off the nearby wall, where Heatnix flew up and grabbed onto the back of his head, turning around to hammer him into the ground.

Zero let go of his sword and grappled his arms around Heatnix's own, twisting them into an iron vice. He pulled back hard and swift, giving the Reploid no chance to fight back. Heatnix let out a surprised caw before his head hammered into the ground, causing him to chomp down on the tip of his tongue and the flames around his body to burn out.

Zero rolled over his Z-Saber to get ahold of it then stood right up, performing a short hop as he swung his blade down in both hands like a guillotine. Heatnix twirled around like a top using his head, then extended his legs out to kick the sword from Zero's hands.

Gritting his teeth, the Hunter ran over to his blade without a second's hesitation, but Heatnix rose up and launched a series of feathers in pursuit. A couple impaled into Zero's back as he hunched down, but he bore the sharp pain as he grabbed and swung his sword out behind him to send a wave of energy at Heatnix. The attack cleaved through the three fireballs he sent out and smashed into the Reploid's vulnerable face, jerking it back in recoil to the point of his neck cracking.

He snapped back forward and launched a larger fireball, but Zero pierced through it with a charging stab. Heatnix flew up into the lava to avoid it, then swung his fingers up. The position of lava shifted, and Zero flew up to higher ground. Heatnix, however, smashed the middle platform with his fist and forced Zero to leap back to the remaining one. Heatnix flew right in and smashed the edge of the platform, and Zero leapt back onto the wall.

With the lava and his foe standing in the way, Zero could only remain calm to calculate his next move. Heatnix stared him down and flared up, becoming a true embodiment of the mythical creature he was built upon, and opened his mouth wide to prepare a final flamethrower.

Closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, Zero clutched the Z-Saber in his right hand and repelled right off the wall as the flamethrower was unleashed. Grabbing the blade in both hands, Zero stabbed straight into the bustling flames and managed to breech through, the tip of the blade piercing Heatnix through the back of his skull.

Wide-eyed, Heatnix's body stiffened up and the flames around him faded, with Zero's thrust dragging his lifeless body towards the lava. Zero held on even as death seemed certain again, hoping that he was right in his assumption.

Sure enough, the death of Heatnix caused the lava to sink away, leaving the ground safe to land upon. Zero brought the fallen Reploid down and put his feet on the floor, ripping the Z-Saber out and managing to draw the Reploid's supply of Nightmare Souls in the process.

Deactivating the blade and locking it on his back, Zero turned away from the fallen Reploid and let out a deep but quiet sigh, "...That was close..."

He then reached for his helmet and said, "Alia, I think I'm done with this test run now."

" _Everything seems to be running smoothly. Did the Reploid say anything about the people he's working for?"_

"It's a dead lead. But we still got five more Investigators to go. One of them has to know something about the Nightmare Virus' creator and Isoc."

" _...I hope so. Alright, I'll bring you back to base!"_ Before Alia performed this task, Zero stamped down on Heatnix's right wrist to break the hand off for X's sake. Then, right as he picked it up, he was carried off back to HQ...

 _Next Time: The Nightmare Phenomenon_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Embodiment of Fenrir, Blizzard Wolfang**

Returning to base after a mission well-done, Zero went straight to the command center, where X stood right in front of the door to greet him with, "How are you feeling, Zero?"

"I'm ok," Zero looked into X's eyes and saw a steady gaze focused across his entire body, then with a relaxed smile he said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to die again."

"I'm not worried about that." X's short response said a thousand words for Zero, who then blinked a couple times and crossed his arms against the chest.

"No point worrying about that until Alia digs up some information."

X could see past the cool exterior Zero projected, and saw a rattled soul buried underneath it all. Nevertheless, X validated his friend's feelings with a short nod and remark of, "I'll go after the next Investigator then."

"No objections here. Just be careful out there." Zero and X exchanged a quick clap of their right hands together then turned around to head towards Alia. Right now she was joined by Shina, the two discussing the subject of a certain Elemental Overlord.

"We've combed through three areas for clues and still haven't found any..." Shina whispered, her palms resting firmly on the cold, metallic rim of Alia's desk while her lips puckered tight with worry.

"You'd think he'd show himself by now. Maybe he left the-"

"No!" Shina snapped and pounded her palms down, then after noticing a subtle squirm from Alia she turned her head and retreated a little away from the desk.

"S-Sorry about that..." Her apology was meek, but sincere.

"I don't want that to be the truth either, but you have to consider all possibilities." Alia faced her laptop again and gave it a stern, focused look as she began to type away at the keyboard.

"...I already did." Shina mumbled to herself, her tone turning quite melancholic, then consigned herself to remaining patient as she laid her palms back down on the desk.

"Alia." X called out quietly from behind. She spun right around in her chair and leaned her head forward, inquiring to the present Hunters, "What do you need?"

"Any chance you've been able to figure out who the other five Investigators are?" The moment X asked that question, Alia's eyes lit up and she slowly began to swivel her chair back towards the laptop.

"No? ...Why do ask?"

"I get the feeling that all the Investigators knew each other even before they were brought back to life. Isn't there some kind of connection you can trace online?"

"...Yeah, I probably could." Her typing slowed and her voice sounded heavier. Shina looked at Alia for a minute moment then swung her head at X, telling him in a polite haste, "Come on X, give Alia a break. She's been at it non-stop all day."

X widened his eyes as though the revelation of what he's doing slapped him hard across the face, and right away he looked Alia in the back and added upon his prior request with an apologetic, "I-I mean...there's no rush. I just thought it'd help us track down the mastermind."

"It's alright X. I'm sure you're on to something. Just give me some time and I'll try and look for a possible connection between the Investigators," Alia picked up the pace in her typing, and Shina let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"In the meantime X, why don'tcha try and find another Investigator?" Shina suggested as she turned to sit atop the desk with legs crossed, "Maaaaaybe it'll help alleviate Alia's workload?"

"Yeah, you're right Shina." X gave her an acknowledging nod then looked over at the navigator to request, "Just set up the coordinates and I'll be on my way."

"You got it X. I think I'll have you check the arctic region next." Alia pressed down on a final number key then glanced over her shoulder to look at X.

"Right. I'm heading out!" X turn around and began to dash for the door, but before he made his way out Zero called out his name and approached from behind. Zero had a serious look in his eyes as he raised his left hand up, which contained the broken limb he plucked off Blaze Heatnix's corpse.

Swinging the part up for X to grab onto, Zero buckled his fingers down to hold X's hand in his grasp after crushing the now useless part. With their gazes interlocked, Zero whispered to his friend, "X...Alia's acting suspicious. I think she knows more than she's letting on."

"H-Huh?" X was taken aback, but had enough restraint to stay quiet. After peering past Zero to make sure Alia wasn't paying attention, he looked his friend in the eyes and whispered, "You're not saying she's our enemy, are you?"

"No," Zero let go of X's hand before stating, "But if she knows something about the mastermind, then you know what you have to do, right?"

"Zero...!" X's gasp of disbelief proved to be louder than he intended, and he hastily tilted his head a couple times right to make sure Alia still didn't look his way, "There's NO way I'm going to accuse her of hiding information."

"The fate of the world's at stake X, you can't be soft about this."

"It's not like that. There's just..." X paused, biting his teeth together before letting out a frustrated growl, "A huge difference between interrogating a Maverick and interrogating a comrade, ok?"

"...Alright, I understand X," Zero closed his eyes then swerved back around, departing with a wave of the hand out beside his head and staying absolutely silent. X looked at him for a bit then peered over at Alia, the words his comrade mentioning stirring through his mind on repeat. He turned for the door, keeping his gaze fixated on Alia until Zero stopped behind her chair and then turned his head to face him with a stern glare.

X cupped his right hand over his wrist and turned it into a buster, arching his brows downward and making his way to the teleporter room with a vigorous dash. He stepped into the capsule and was warped right towards his next destination.

He arrived deep inside an icy cavern, where everything, even the machinery, was covered in at least a thin layer of frost. The atmosphere was illuminated by a magnificent, aurora-like glow coming through the glassy ice ceiling, and as X took a few steps forward he found himself at ease of mind. However, upon close inspection of his environment, there was one thing X found off.

"...The temperature. It's lukewarm..." He reached for his buster and looked around, but as his gaze focused skyward his eyes widened and he leapt back underneath the low hanging ceiling. Right after he landed, a small fireball came down where he had stood and turned that part of the floor into a sizzling puddle of steam and warm water. Then, more fireballs started to rain down, though not a single one could reach X's location.

"Alia? What's going on here?"

" _A...fireball storm? That's weird, I'm not detecting this on my radar."_

"But can you see them?" X remarked, sensing the tiniest worrying in Alia's voice.

" _Yes. Relax, you're not hallucinating anything X. But I wonder..."_

"You wonder...?" There was a ten second pause before Alia responded.

" _I wonder...if this has anything to do with the Nightmare Virus?"_

"The Nightmare Virus can even affect the weather?"

" _I don't think it can on it's own. No...I'm guessing that the Nightmare Virus in this area must have sensed the demise of Blaze Heatnix and created this atmospheric affect to get in your way."_

"This hasn't happened in any of the other areas we've explored so far. I wonder why?"

" _Maybe the virus only reacts under certain conditions? There's a lot we don't know about how this thing operates, unfortunately."_

"I'll be careful then." X moved out of the ceiling's shadow and reached for the Z-Saber, but as he pulled it out Alia had one last thing to say.

" _It's possible you'll be able to destroy this phenomenon by striking it with a similar energy signature as the place it originated from."_

X looked at the Z-Saber and then grabbed it in both hands, concentrating power within the blade until white hot flames shot forth. Brandishing the blade in a downward arc, X cut through one of the fireballs as smooth as a knife through butter. Then, with a nod of appreciation for Alia to see, he dashed forward with a gaze focused almost entirely skyward.

As he scaled the slick incline at a rigid but cautious pace, X kept swinging the blade every time a fireball dove his way. The onslaught seemed endless, and was starting to have an adverse effect on the climate. Realizing that the more he tries to understand the Nightmare Virus, the more complex and dangerous it becomes, X was left only with the hopes that he and the others could stop the virus before it left the entire world in chaos.

Halfway up the first of many inclines, X felt the ground shake at his feet and planted both down to hold on, only for the tremor to last no more than a second. With a curious hum, he then looked up and saw a series of large icy boulders spawning out of thin air at the top of the hill. The boulders barreled down the hill before X could fully register their presence, and with only a second before all his parts would be flattened out he looked down to the right and leapt onto a safe, lonesome alcove at the bottom of a ladder.

The avalanche passed him by as he nailed his back to the wall, ensuring that a stray boulder wouldn't come flying off and smack him in the head. After five seconds the event had passed, but X wasn't too sure of how safe it was to head back up. He scaled the ladder just enough to peek his eyes over the lip, and sure enough more boulders were building up at the top of the hill.

Dropping back down, X closed his eyes and reviewed his present arsenal for any ideas on how to move on. It only took five seconds for him to realize he had the perfect means of fighting back the avalanche, and once the current wave finished cascading down he vaulted right back up onto the hill and aimed his right buster forward. Charging up just a bit of energy, he created a compact stone boulder at least one and a half times bigger than he was.

Then, winding up his right leg, X gave the boulder a strong, firm kick as another avalanche came his way. The boulder smashed through every thick boulder of ice as though they were no more delicate than newly spun spider-webs, leaving the path clear for X to sprint forth.

He repeated this process for the other avalanches that got in his way, all while alternating to the use of the Z-Saber in order to cleave through the fireballs. It was a drawn-out, back-and-forth process, but through sheer perseverance X succeeded in making his way to the very top of these inclines. A low hanging ceiling provided the perfect umbrella for the fiery rain as X caught his breath, his break lasting a full minute before he decided to continue on.

There were a few pits up ahead that a cascade of icy boulders rained down into every few seconds. Luckily, overcoming these would just require some patient timing on X's part. Though as he crossed the gaps, he began to notice a severe lack of the Nightmare Virus' presence, nor were there any other Reploids in the area. After he crossed the chasms, X got in contact with Alia.

"It's very quiet around here...Too quiet." With a slight gaze diagonally, X drew the Z-Saber to keep cutting down the fireballs as he awaited a response.

" _The amount of ice in this area is making it hard to scan for lifeforms. It's a lot like the volcano region, I doubt many Reploids would dare to come out here."_

"Hopefully the virus hasn't gotten ahold of them." X stopped at the top of a downward slope and looked up and down, noticing there were two paths to take.

"Alia, do you know which way might lead to the Investigator?"

" _Negative. This area hasn't been charted out in any of our databases. I'll leave this choice at your discretion X, just high-tail it out of there if you run into trouble."_

"I'll be fine." X focused at the upper ledge, noticing that it'd be tough to reach it with a single leap. Narrowing his eyelids, he held his buster forward and summoned a smaller stone at the very edge of the hilltop. He made a short hop to get on it then bounced straight towards the ledge, landing with a slippery roll. Getting up and turning right around, he saw how the fireballs weren't able to follow him into this tighter crevice.

" _Looks like this might be the safer route..."_ X still remained on guard as he turned around, but he was right away accosted by a silvery set of sharp fangs pointed at his chest and a hostile growl coming from the green metallic wolf that owned them. X stepped back and pointed his buster down, but then noticed that the wolf was just one of many in a pack.

Prowling out of the shadows, a dozen wolves kept their distance from X but were close enough to be near their leader, whose snarling fangs continued to quiver as he nudged his nose in closer. X pressed the lip of the buster against the nose, and the pack of wolves hunched down on all fours and joined their leader in a synchronized snarl.

With a cautious tilt of the head, X bided his time as the leader of the wolves sniffed his buster, then glided his nose up the arm and went for the chest plate of his armor. Once there the wolf's head retreated, and his mouth sealed up tight. With one gentle swerve of the head, the leader silenced his pack. X lowered the buster to the waist, unable to describe with words how strange a sight it was to watch all the wolves form two unified lines off to the sides, their bodies kept in a sitting position without even a bit of their claws twitching.

The leader looked up, making sure X was staring at his pupil-less eyes, before giving a terse nod and turning around. Walking down the path laid out by his brethren, the wolf stopped at the edge and turned his body to line up with the tail end of the left side of the pack, keeping his gaze fixated on the gap below.

X parted his arms and kept them glued to the hips as he moved onward, staring into the face of each and every wolf he passed. He noticed that some had oil dripping between their fans, others had bits and pieces of wiring and gears, a sign that they had attacked other Reploids. But it was only when he reached the leader and saw them budge his head down into the gap did X get the last piece of this curious puzzle.

At the bottom of the chasm, lining a bed of spikes, were the corpses of another dozen wolf Reploids. These wolves had purple skin, and as far as X could tell their eyes had been made darker. This wasn't some turf war between rival clans that had gotten far out of hand...Those wolves were just some of the latest victims of the Nightmare Virus outbreak.

X looked back at the leader of the wolves, offering his sympathies in silence, and in turn the leader and his pack reared their heads back and filled the void of silence with their wild and mighty howls. Then they turned away and headed into the thick, sub-zero shadows, vanishing without a trace.

X felt cold and hollow for a little bit after, and upon looking down into the chasm again he hesitated to move on. But, that very same hesitation led to him recognizing the horrid state of affairs in the world, and how sacrifices like these needed to be prevented from happening. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, X leapt down the chasm and landed atop the corpses, which provided protection from the spikes as he crossed them to the other side.

Then he used a few wall jumps to make his way to the top, where the path once more split in two. The way to the right was clearly the way out of this compressed maze, but there was something important that X had to check out on the other side first. It was, of course, a Dr. Light capsule.

Leaping over to the capsule, X watched as it activated and the doctor's pale hologram brightened the otherwise gloomy confines surrounding him. The doctor had his usual smile, but it last only for a second as he soon saw the bothered look in his creation's eyes.

" _You are troubled by something, aren't you X?"_

"It's that obvious huh?" X lifted his head up and gestured the right hand out. After a short pause he placed that hand against the side of his head and gave it a gentle shake, "I know you talked with Zero about how he might've been rebuilt."

" _Hrrrmmm...X, you must let your friend figure out the truth on his own. Do not add his concerns to your own."_

"It's got nothing to do with that," X bit his teeth down for a moment then lowered his hand by the hip to look the man in the face, "At least...not how you think it does."

" _Ah, I think I understand what you're concerned with."_ Dr. Light, in his moment of revelation, had a tone of deep-seated regret in his premature assumptions.

"You do?"

" _Yes. You want to tell Zero what you know about Serges, but you can't remember much about him..."_

"How did you know?!" X gasped while reeling his arms back.

" _When I was repairing you, I noticed that there was some irreversible damage to your databanks. Tell me, is there anything else you've had trouble recalling?"_

X reached for the Z-Saber and pulled it out, squinting his eyes halfway shut and saying, "Now that you mention it...I-I think I did use Zero's sword before. It was...during the Doppler incident?"

" _I'm sorry that I was unable to restore those memories in the time I had."_

"It's ok. I'm sure you tried your best. You're probably right though...it's best just to let Zero handle that mystery on his own."

" _For now, just worry about the Nightmare Virus. Step into this capsule, and I shall give you another piece of the Shadow Armor to help you on your mission."_

The hologram faded away, allowing X to step on the capsule and accept the transfer of data to HQ. Once he got off, Dr. Light returned and offered an upbeat farewell, _"It does my heart good to see you wanting to support your friend in his time of need. Never lose that compassion X, it shall always carry you far in this world.'_

He left, and the wisdom of his words stuck like glue to X's conscience as he departed through the other side of the room. A few steps down the hall was all it took for him to reach the exit of this internal cavern, and the aurora-like lighting was a sight for sore eye receptors after what felt like an eternity of darkness. Now at the edge of a chasm whose floor had a faint visibility level at best, X had to make one last valiant leap in order to reach the steel doors on the other side.

Once he secured the landing, he headed through the doors and ended up right in front of a frozen over research station. It was decent sized, looking as though it could house about a hundred Reploids, but also didn't seem to have been active in years.

"Abandoned. I'm almost starting to think I've walked into a graveyard." Somewhat unnerved, X went towards the front door of the building, but found that it was sealed off by a very thick layer of ice. Even the heat he could generate with his blade wouldn't be enough.

"Looks like this isn't where I need to go." X turned away and took a few steps forward before the light in the cavern suddenly disappeared, leaving him standing still in the darkness. He raised his buster up and turned around, trying to get a feel for the enemy's location.

Standing in what he assumed to be his original position, X held his buster forward and waited for any signs of movement. Through the darkness behind him, a flicker of red light appeared and faded in and out. As a chill ran up X's back, a deep and somewhat feral voice growled out, "Hold still."

The voice pierced X's ears and paralyzed his body for but a moment, yet though he had the strength to overcome the fear he didn't finding himself fighting back even as a set of icy claws rested upon his shoulders. With a guttural growl, the creature sniffed his body down the back, then jerked X back a little and reached around to his chest.

"...Hmmm, so, you have been acknowledged." The creature pulled away one claw at a time, X doing a good job hiding a breath of relief when the last claw had slipped off his skin. He then spun around and pointed his buster at the flicker of light, only to be caught off-guard when the light returned and his company had his claws pincered around the thickest part of his buster.

Standing seven feet tall with a body resembling that of the proud canis, this Reploid stared down X with grizzly red eyes and pearl fangs gripped tight in a docile smile. His head was topped with a bushel of icy crystals as pristine as his claws, and his tail combined bushiness and icyness to create an overall sense of majesty. Powerful, imposing, the Reploid by all rights shouldn't be teasing X with his jarring smile and the gentle grip he had on his weapon.

"Heh, relax. I will not fight you...not yet." He pulled his claw back and walked past X on the left, leaving the Hunter just a bit frazzled as he shook the thin bits of frost off his buster before dispelling it.

"Are you the Nightmare Investigator?" X locked his gaze onto the Reploid's back as he strolled the icy wastes with grace, standing perfectly erect unlike the rest of his kind.

"Yes. I am Blizzard Wolfang. I'm sorry to say, I already know who you are...X." The Reploid looked over his left shoulder and dug his claws into the ground.

"Because of your master. The one who created the Nightmare Virus." X glared at Wolfang but remained calm.

"...Do you hate me, Maverick Hunter?" Wolfang chuckled with a slight nudge of the head back and a sneer of the fangs.

"Should I?" X was brutal in his honesty, slanting his brows to strengthen his glare.

"Well, I am the servant of your enemy. The one behind that insidious virus spreading across the world..." Wolfang stared at his right hand as he raised it up, cupping the claws as though he held a goblet in his grasp. He then spread them apart while tilting his head at X and raising his brows in anticipation.

"I just want to know why. Why do you dedicate your loyalty to someone who's trying to ruin the world?"

"Ha! That one word is the perfect descriptor for my cause." Wolfang swerved his body around and smiled.

"One word?" X thought hard about it, but the Investigator intercepted him with a quiet and blunt, "Loyalty."

"It's...loyalty?"

"Yes," Wolfang closed his eyes and breathed in the cold air surrounding him, "X...what do you know about...wolves?"

"...Nothing. I've...never met a wolf in my life."

"Long ago, wolves were a lot more commonplace in the world. They would hunt together in packs, and remain loyal to one another. Some humans saw wolves as nothing more than dirty savages, but others revered them...saw them as honorable cousins. And in turn, these wolves would share this trust with the humans. Wolves are smarter than humans gave them credit for...Their eyes were not just used for hunting prey from great distances, but they could also sense a person's true nature deep down in their soul."

"...I see." X listened in and didn't miss a word.

"Though the flesh and fur may be shed, we who have inherited the traits of the canis lineage are still guided by those longstanding traditions. When me and my pack were created, we knew right away where our loyalties lied, and shared a mutual trust with that man even to the grave..."

"But..." Wolfang closed his eyes and lowered both claws beside the hips, grimacing in pain, "I...do not believe myself worthy of his trust, nor his loyalty. For in my prior life, I committed the most egregious of sins..."

"Years ago, in this very base, I caught wind of a possible Maverick attack, and sought to deal with the matter myself. My pack stared at me on my way out, their cold, worrisome gazes speaking more than a thousand words about their fear. Yet, I persisted in solitude, scouring every inch of the North Pole for signs of an attack. All I could find...were a set of footprints leading back towards our base."

"I hurried back on all fours, but I was too late...the Mavericks had infiltrated our base, and slaughtered my entire pack. I...am blind to what happened next. Only the rotten smell of rust remains to remind me of that day."

"I betrayed my pack, showed them no loyalty, and for that they all paid the ultimate price..." Wolfang looked at his claws, which trembled as they were squeezed against his palms, "I suppose...it was only karma that you became my grim reaper after all was said and done, Alia."

X froze and widened his eyes, unable to move an inch. Wolfang stared at him, but his attention was clearly elsewhere, "That burial at sea you forced upon me...I do not blame you for what you did. I deserved it."

"..." Shaking himself free of suspicions for the time being, X looked the solemn Reploid in the eyes and asked, "But your master must have thought otherwise."

"Indeed...my master is a brilliant Reploid, but perhaps a little too optimistic in regards to how flawless his creations truly are. But...he gave me and my pack a second chance at life, and for that I owe him my eternal gratitude."

"I know you're loyal to your master, but how can you look at any of this and say it's ok? Reploids are dying, habitats are being thrown into chaos, and it's all because of HIS Nightmare Virus." X took upon a defiant stance and refused to buckle down as he voiced his complaints at the top of his lungs.

"Yes, what he's doing may be considered obscene, but you have to weigh both the benefits and the flaws, X. The virus itself may be harmful, but the souls within them are not. Just think, with enough Nightmare Souls, we can bring back all the Reploids whose lives ended far too early. Every Reploid whose life you had to end can get a second chance to do something good for this world without ever having to worry about the Sigma Virus. I implore you...please, at least consider the possibilities."

"...I wish I could just turn back the clock and undo some of the deaths I've caused." X gripped a hand around his right wrist and held on tight, his body shaking as he remembered some of his comrades who fell to the Sigma Virus. But then, locking his grip into place, he swung his arm up and pointed the buster straight at Wolfang with eyes fired up by determination.

"But this isn't the way to do it! The Nightmare Virus is an abnormality that threatens the peace of this world, and I'll do everything in my power to destroy it!"

Wolfang's jaw slacked as he sighed, and after a drawn out shake of the head he swung his right claw out before his waist and said, "I wish you hadn't said that. I did not want to have to fight you, X."

"I'm sorry it has to be this way too, Blizzard Wolfang, but your loyalty is blinding you to your master's madness!"

"Maybe you're right, but I will continue to believe in the good in his heart until my dying breath! Come X, let us see whose loyalty to the cause shall reign supreme on this day!"

X fired off a charged shot right away, but Wolfang cleaved down through it with but a single claw. He then got on all fours and charged straight at the Hunter, who leapt left and rolled around to get back on his feet. With one eye shut X locked onto his speeding target as they dug their claws into the ground to brake and turn around. Once completely still, Wolfang's eyes glistened with a primal energy as he hunched his head down and charged straight forth like an arrow through the air.

X widened his eyes and threw his body back, preparing a charged shot as Wolfang had his claws drawn inches away from his chest. The shot came out right as the claws were set to tear into his armor, giving X some more distance. He landed and slid on his back as Wolfang kept flying unimpeded, but now X had the perfect vantage point to fire a small boulder at his underbelly when he passed over.

Wolfang curled around the boulder as he was jettisonned towards the ceiling, then fought against the air pressure with relative ease to drill his claws into the boulder and shatter it. He then curved his legs back and pressed both feet against the ceiling, bending his legs out of alignment for the moment it took him to spring straight down.

X flipped back and aimed his buster below the waist, firing it off right as Wolfang drove his claw into the ground. But the Hunter underestimated his prey, who used his strike to summon up a blossom of ice spikes to stop the charged shot in it's tracks. Then, dropping on all fours, Wolfang reared his head back and opened the mouth, summoning the power of the winter frost to launch an ice ball at X.

In the midst of his descent, X had enough time to kick his leg around to break the ice and then point it down for a safe but slippery landing. As he slid away from his target, he swung his right arm out and summoned three dragonfly drones, which spun around his body while firing a continuous stream of energy shots. Wolfang stood up and crossed his arms to block the attacks, which peppered him just enough to send him sliding back.

But when the back of his right heel rose up the incline of one of his ice spikes, he lashed his claws out and used it to propel himself across the battlefield. With his momentum not showing any signs of slowing, X leapt back and watched as one of the drones was snatched right out of the sky and torn to shreds. Wolfang looked at it for a second then threw it aside with a smirk, using that same freed hand to swipe at the ground, which sent a wave of crystal spikes erupting after X.

With a wall behind and spikes in front, X had no other choice but to draw the Z-Saber and cleave the crystals straight across when he landed. The pressure and sharpness of the blade cut down half the wave, the top of it flying off to the right. Between the halves Wolfang came lunging forward with all frontal claws drawn, lashing them down towards X's chest. X swung his blade up and locked down his claws from advancing further, forcing his foe on his feet just so he'd be able to press his advantage.

As X's back was pushed in a curve, he began charging up energy and gritting his teeth nice and tight. The two drones he had left were joined by a third, all of them turning golden and turning their sights on Wolfang's face. A bombardment of twenty-four high energy shots came from each drone, the wolf squeezing his eyes shut and being forced on the retreat as he waved his claws out to repel the bullets.

X swung the Z-Saber back and ignited the blade on fire, lashing it right out towards Wolfang's chest. The Reploid clasped his claws inward and halted the blade inches from his face, unimpeded by the flames. With a mighty roar, Wolfang reared his entire body back and threw X over his head as though he was no heavier than a pillow.

X spun around and swung his blade twice, launching a fireball from the edge. Wolfang twirled around like a whirlwind and cut them to shreds, then leapt straight towards X to drag him downward with all his weight. Once the Hunter was pinned to the ground, Wolfang got on his knees and sliced away at the chestplate with his claws.

Sparks flew out in a flurry with every blow, the sound of metal grinding down grating on X's ears. But with teeth grit tight, X fought through the pain and managed to stab his flaming blade right past the claws and into Wolfang's chest. The Reploid's jaw clasped shut as his body jerked into a stiff position, with X pushing back onto his feet and melting deeper into Wolfang's body with a continuous push. Soon the back of the proud wolf was breeched, and his claws drooped over X's shoulders.

Holding his head adjacent to X's ear, Wolfang let out a pitiful, dying whisper, "...I failed you again...Master...Gate..."

His eyes closed and his body fell to the ground, his limp claws falling beside X's feet. X put the Z-Saber on his back and looked down at his fallen foe before murmuring to himself, "Gate...?"

Hunching over to tap Wolfang for his power, X overheard melancholic howls echoing across the skies. Standing up and to look around, X couldn't find a single wolf in sight. And perhaps...there never were any to begin with.

"...Alia, I'm ready to return to base." With a heavy heart, X made his request and stood still, being warped back a mere few seconds later...

 _Next Time: Hidden Truths_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Alia and Gate**

X's return to base was silent, even as he made his way to the command center. The moment the doors opened and he walked in, Zero propped himself up off of Alia's desk and glanced at her for a second. She was typing in solidarity, her focus ironclad. Taking his time to approach X, Zero laid his arms by the hips and stared him right in the eyes.

Shina, leaning on the left edge of the desk, saw their meeting with her lips pinched loose together in a scowl. She shifted her eyes towards Alia and then the two Hunters and murmured, "Uh-oh..."

Alia head perked up just a bit, and with a glance over the right shoulder she motioned her right fingers towards the rim of her headset. Giving it a slight twist, she amplified the device's audio receptors so she could snoop in on her comrades' quiet meeting.

"Zero..." X whispered, his head but a mere couple inches from Zero's own. The red warrior gave a brief nod and responded, "I know. We can't ignore this any longer. She's definitely hiding something."

"I don't like this Zero..."

"I know how you feel X, but now's not to the time to be soft. We have to coerce the information about our enemy out of her while we have the element of surprise." Zero was firm but respectful, laying a hand upon his friend's shoulder in the middle of his comment.

"Do you think she knows that we know?" X began to peer past Zero, and the very second Alia suspected she'd be spotted she turned back around and resumed her natural pose.

"It's hard to imagine that she wouldn't, but..." Zero peered over his left shoulder with half-squinted eyes, "That's why we have to do this now. We can't give her time to come up with excuses."

Zero turned around and took one step forward, only to be anchored in place by X's iron grip and a remark of, "Don't be rough with her, she's still our ally Zero."

"...Lets hope so." Zero shook X off and kept moving on towards Alia, who in a haste pushed her lips to the right of her face and let out a quick "Psst!" at Shina.

"I'm sorry to ask, but please help me out..." She was in panic mode, which came as quite the shock for Shina, and made her response come out quick in the form of a brief nod.

X got to Alia first and stood right behind her chair, asking her in a soft, unassuming voice, "Alia, are you busy at the moment?"

"Well, I'm still trying to look up information on the Investigators, but..." Alia played it cool, acting just as she normally would right up to the way she spun her chair around to face the two Hunters. Moving the mic away from her mouth and staring at them one at a time with a stoic face, she proceeded to look at X directly and say, "If it's urgent, I'll try my best to help."

"Before Blizzard Wolfang died, he mentioned his master's name." X remarked, he himself treating this like a casual conversation between friends.

"Did he now? ...Who was it?" Alia raised her brows in a pronounced manner to immitate genuine surprise, but it only took a second for Zero to pierce the veil of facade.

"You had to have been listening in." He waved a hand out from the fold on his chest, guiding Alia's gaze his way. She blinked a couple times while keeping up the same expression, flinching when Shina suddenly hopped off the desk and hit the ground with a loud clang.

"She's been working her butt off super hard to find ANY information on the Investigators," Raising one brow high and rolling her hand out beside the chest, Shina glared at Zero for his lack of tact as she asked, "Can ya REALLY blame her for getting distracted?"

Zero squinted his eyes a bit but then rested his hand back into the fold, gesturing his head towards X as he nudged his feet back a little. The Hunter looked at Alia and continued from where he left off in a polite manner, "I'm sorry if you feel overworked Alia."

"...Don't worry about it X, I'm fine." Alia's expression slumped a little, her mood turning dour but sincere.

"...The Reploid's name is Gate." X remarked.

"Gate..." Alia lowered her head and fiddled her fingers around the side of her headset. Turning around, she hovered all her fingers above the keyboard and repeated the name a little quieter than before.

"I've...never heard of a Reploid named Gate before, but..." Alia peered over her left shoulder and gave Zero a smile of confidence, but his glare just narrowed in turn. Then, turning back around, her fingertips ended up grazing the surface of the keys.

"...I-I'll try my best to scrounge up some info on him."

"Him?" Zero's blunt tone punctured a hole right through Alia's facade, and the sound of him moving just one inch closer caused her body to tense up, "That's funny, I don't recall _either_ of us mentioning what gender Gate is."

Alia's fingers curled into her palm, the approach of Zero's hand upon the back of her chair sending a shiver down her metallic spine, "In fact, it was Blizzard Wolfang who said that Gate is a...'he'."

Zero edged his head in closer, but with a gallant brashness Shina threw her right hand up and smacked the robot in the chest to push him away.

"Don't be silly Zero! There's not that many female Reploids out there!"

"Stop trying to cover her tracks Shina. She's already slipped up enough." Zero threw a piercing glare towards Shina then grabbed onto the back of Alia's chair hard enough to rock it.

"Alia, I don't know what your history with this 'Gate' person is, but there's no point in hiding it. Just tell us the truth, and we'll be willing to hear you out." Zero commented, his roughness juxtapositioning the calm tone he took.

Alia's hands sunk towards the edge of the desk, her fingers trembling as she bit her lower lip and swallowed a little, "I-I don't know anything about them..."

Zero's brows slanted, and his grip on the chair tightened to the point of causing it to lean back. X stiffened and turned to face his comrade, noticing that the level of aggression around him matched what he displayed against Mavericks.

"Zero, calm down..." He murmured.

"You're lying Alia," X's words were deaf in Zero's ears as he gave Alia's chair a slight jerk and said in a fiercer voice, "If you keep hiding the truth from us, then it's going to reflect badly on your allegiance."

"I swear I don't know anything about Gate!" Alia raised her voice in a snap of genuine panic.

The right of Zero's face began to tense up with a scowl, and after slamming his hand down on the chair he spun it around and forced Alia to face him. X and Shina gasped and looked at Zero with shock as he pressed his palms against the arms of her chair and pressed his face inches away from hers, not even relenting in the face of her shaky eyed panic.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Alia?!" Zero screamed in disbelief.

"Zero, why...why are you doing this?!" Alia was now a far cry from the navigator X had grown familiar with. Her metallic skin looked pale, and her pupils had shrank down smaller than needle tips.

X wrenched a hand onto his friend's back and exclaimed, "Zero that's enough!"

The Hunter forced the hand right off with a violent swing of the arm, throwing a growl his way for just a second before resuming to accost Alia, "This isn't a game! How many Reploids do you think are dying thanks to this Nightmare Virus?! Is your pride so important that you'd rather cling onto it until we're all DEAD?!"

Pounding the arms of the chair to rock it as Alia squirmed, Zero widened his eyes in a frenzy and screamed, "Goddamn it Alia, say something!"

"That's ENOUGH Zero!" In the blink of an eye Zero was pulled right off the ground, his arms locked from movement by a perfect cradle under his shoulders. The other three Reploids were surprised by this aggressive display of restraint, especially since it was Signas who had pacified Zero.

Zero grunted for a bit but didn't budge once he looked back and saw who was responsible. Signas glared at him with clear and present fury, but the rage in his voice did not persist as he said, "This isn't the time to be turning against each other...Unless you're telling me you have a concrete reason behind treating your ally like she's some common-grade Maverick."

When the tension in Zero's body seemed to have subsided, Signas let go and took a couple steps back, surveying the looks on the faces around him. X and Shina were just surprised to see him, while Alia was too bound up by fear to muster a response.

"Commander Signas...We have reason to believe that Alia knows something about our enemy's identity." X remarked, trying not to paint Alia in a negative light.

"...What do you mean?" Signas looked at the navigator while rubbing his chin.

"Most of the Investigators we've dealt with so far have mentioned Alia by name. Not only that, but the last one I fought mentioned another Reploid by the name of Gate that we believe might be the one running this operation."

"Is that so?" Signas held his hand in place and glanced at Zero, who was avoiding eye contact with any of his comrades at the moment. Then, he looked over at Alia and let out a long sigh.

"...So, you learned that much..." He whispered.

"Commander Signas?" X remarked.

Placing his arms in a cross behind his back, Signas hesitated to say at the sight of Alia's demure appearance, "I'm sorry Alia, but it seems there's no point in hiding it any longer."

"What?" X and Shina blurted in shock, while Alia lifted her head up like it was as heavy as a brick of lead and gave Signas a blank stare.

"It's time they knew the truth..." Signas closed his eyes and quieted down to an almost mute level, "As your superior officer...that is an order."

"..." Alia dropped both hands onto her lap and lowered her head. Worn down looking in both her eyes and 'smile', she murmured all to herself, "Guess it _was_ pointless to think I could escape it..."

She reached back with one hand to grab onto the edge of the desk and turn around, facing her laptop with one hand on the keyboard. She tapped away at a snail's pace, but only had to input a few keys before a single screenshot popped up labeled 'Remnant of Past'. The picture displayed Alia wearing a labcoat, with hair that stretched down to her shoulders. She was working with another Reploid that had a labcoat on, and the two of them were smiling.

X and Shina looked at the picture, the Hunter commenting while almost at a loss for words, "That's...you?"

"...Yep." Alia nodded, but took some time lifting her head up, almost as if embarrassed to look at her past reflection.

"And the Reploid on the left is..."

"Yes...That's him...That's Gate," Alia reached for and hovered her fingers over the keyboard, "And a long time ago...he was my partner."

There was silence, a long, drawn out and frankly awkward silence, but after looking back at her allies Alia muttered out "...I guess...I guess I should start from the beginning, shouldn't I?"

With a slow rhythmic tapping of the keys, Alia brought up a slideshow of images to coincide with the points in time she'd bring up during her story.

 _I wasn't created to be a navigator Reploid. Actually, me and about eleven other Reploids were created to be a scientist/engineer type Reploid similar to Dr. Doppler. The humans in charge of our development wanted to take the next step in Reploid evolution, and thought that having Reploids build other Reploids would provide a perspective that they as a species sorely lacked._

 _The twelve of us were kept in a laboratory all by ourselves, having minimal accessibility to the outside world save for whatever our creators provided. They figured that, without any distractions, our intellects would increase at a much faster rate than most other Reploids. With info fed to us bit by bit, all of us were soon able to piece together everything else we needed to know about the world, or fill in the blanks on pre-established materials. By the time a year had passed since our creations, the twelve of us were at least on par with Dr. Cain when it came to knowledge._

 _However...there was one Reploid whose potential went far beyond the expectations of his creators, and the rate at which he learned far eclipsed the rest of us combined. That Reploid...was Gate. Valued by our creators for his astonishing intelligence and quick thinking, Gate was chosen to become the leader of our research team, a role he accepted with immense gratitude._

 _Thus we began to work together to uncover the mysteries behind our own kind, and solve them in order to advance their development. Though he occasionally saw value in our services, Gate preferred to work alone. He didn't want to waste time on everyday Reploids, he wanted to solve the greatest mystery of them all..._

 _Even to this day X, you and Zero's bodies and DNA have never been fully analyzed. No one, not even the top scientists in the world, could figure you out. But none of that dissuaded Gate. Once he saw something that could challenge his intellect, he faced that challenge without a single hint of wavering resolve. I admit I..._ _ **did**_ _used to admire that about him. He had ambition, confidence, and charisma...I knew I couldn't compare to him, but I always tried my best to help him whenever our superiors allowed it._

 _I wish I had realized it sooner, but that was always one of Gate's fatal flaw. His ability to work without restraint meant that he worked without any regard for protocols, and that obscene dedication to his work slowly earned him the envious ire from his colleagues. Gate didn't earn himself any favors either by boasting his accomplishments whenever he earned praise for them..._

 _But for all his arrogance, Gate directed it all towards the betterment of the world. Out of everyone in our group, he confided in me the confidence to assist him in creating Reploids that would be immune to all kinds of viruses. I don't know why he did...I was never the disobedient type, I always followed our creators' orders to the letter, and I wasn't even the second smartest amongst our group._

 _It took some time to gather all the available samples of research for X and Zero, but once he had them in his possession Gate worked non-stop to use them for the creation of his advanced Reploids. Because of his brilliance, or perhaps his inability to give up, Gate almost succeeded in replicating your attributes. Without a direct observation of your body structures, what he accomplished was as far as he could go. Thus, to the surprise of his creators and peers, Gate unveiled the first in a line of eight unanalyzable Reploids only two years after his creation._

 _Not just that, but he took great initiative by showing off his new Reploid to the government. The top brass scientists at the time, including Dr. Cain, praised Gate's work as some of the best they've seen, some of them even claiming the Reploid's data matched the likes of Sigma and Colonel. Even though our creators were frustrated with Gate's disobedience, they could not ignore how much of a PR boost this proved to be. The government provided funding to our group from that point on, allowing us to hasten our advances in Reploid development._

 _Gate, in the span of a month, managed to create the other seven Reploids he had in mind and presented them with a perfect role designated to each one. The amount of praise Gate received in such a short period of time was astounding. In just a couple years time, he had gained more fame than most humans had gotten over the course of a lifetime._

 _The fame started going to Gate's head, but in a positive manner. He was ecstatic to be showered with praise, and wanted to keep creating more and more advanced Reploids for the benefit of the world. I'll never forget the smile he wore during those days...it was one that could bright up even the darkest of nights._

 _But...if only that smile and genuine enthusiasm could have reached the darkness welling up in the jealous hearts of his colleagues...Maybe then things would've gone differently._

 _All the others saw in Gate was an arrogant show-off who they felt needed to be taken down a peg. Behind his back, the other ten conspired to ruin Gate's reputation by getting rid of his eight creations. When I overheard their plans, I tried to call them out on how petty they were acting, but all that accomplished was convincing them to rope me into their plans as well._

" _Don't be stupid Alia! What do you think'll happen to us once Gate lets the fame get to his head too much?"_

" _He's already running this lab! All it'd take is a little climb up the ladder and he'll have enough pull to have us all scrapped!"_

 _That was just a couple of the arguments they made, their pathetic cries born of paranoia. But, stuck in the middle of their maelstrom of complaints, I too started to be infected by their paranoia. He was the closest person I knew the entire time I was there, and our bond...at least I felt...made us closer than friends. That meant I saw every facet of his character, and thus the depths of his ego...There was the worrisome possibility that maybe, just maybe, he would grow beyond the boundaries of our lab and leave us behind to be decomissioned. But never, never in a thousand years, would I believe that he'd carry out the act himself. He may have been aloof, but not uncaring..._

 _I thought all this through, but_ _ **still**_ _I was seduced by the fear that grabbed hold of me. On the condition that we did not target Gate directly, I...agreed to their plan. We'd take our time to deal with every Reploid Gate had built._

 _Our first target was Commander Yammark, who at the time was operating on a nature preserve in Africa. One of the other researchers managed to bribe a member of Yammark's observation team, convincing him to set fire to part of the forest in a way that would pin the blame on Yammark himself. A fourth of the forest was sacrificed, driving out the Reploid animals that lived there, but the plan had succeeded. With Yammark's reputation in question, one of our researchers were called out to give him a 'check-up'._

 _The researcher managed to fit a device into Yammark's flight system that would deactivate it from far away. A day later, the button was pressed, and Yammark died in a fiery crash..._

 _Then came Ground Scaravich. I was tasked with taking him out alone...Unfortunately, Scaravich was already being targeted by the Maverick Hunters at the time for accidentally damaging historic ruins in his search for treasure, so it made him harder to track down at first. But thanks to a little bit of snooping into Gate's personal files, I discovered that Scaravich was on his way to the ruins where you were discovered, X. If I had to guess, Gate was looking for a sample of your DNA to improve upon his research._

 _When I finally caught up with Scaravich, he was merrily digging away at the ground, all the while whistling a tune. I had on me a gun designed to breech his skin, but I...I couldn't pull the trigger. The barrel was aimed at his back, and I had a clear shot...But face-to-face with my target, I realized the gravity of my predicament. This Reploid was just doing his job. He hadn't harmed anyone, and yet I had to kill him? Why?_

 _My body shook, disrupting a tiny pebble at my feet. That noise was enough to get Scaravich to turn around, and once I saw the whites of his eyes..._

" _ **BANG!"**_

 _...I took my first life..._

 _X...you know how Reploids were designed to simulate human responses? Did you...did you feel sick to the your stomach the first time you killed a Maverick?_

 _...No, no...f-forget I asked..._

 _I dragged my feet back to the lab, only to find that my 'colleagues' were celebrating. They congratulated me, but I couldn't look them in the eye. I walked past them all, and made my way to Gate's lab. I knew that news of two of his creations' demises had to have reached him by now...But he didn't seem to care. When he saw me, he expressed pride at unveiling his newest creation soon enough, and that's it..._

 _I began to think that, perhaps, I didn't understand Gates at all. I thought there was some good in him, but all that seemed be buried under his growing ego..._

 _Thus, with great reluctance, I returned to the other researchers to continue along with their plan. Their next target was Blaze Heatnix. To deal with him, they lured him into a trap inside of an active volcano, claiming that there was Maverick activity going on. Instead, the researchers had planted bombs inside the volcano and set them off, burying him inside lava._

 _After that was Blizzard Wolfang. They thought he was an easy target, as news had arrived that his unit was wiped out in a Maverick attack, with him as the lone survivor. I was sent to deal with him, carrying the same gun that had taken Scaravich's life. There was a blizzard in the region, making it hard to track down Wolfang. But I trudged through, noticing the carnage that had taken place in the wake of the Maverick attack._

 _Wolfang stood overlooking the arctic seas, carrying the most complete corpse of one of his pack members he could find amongst the buried scrap. His howls were painful to listen to, and yet...I still pulled the gun on him. I couldn't bear the thought of him looking me in the eyes, and with a fear driven lack of hesitation the trigger was pulled...The recoil of the bullet through Wolfang's spine sent him hurtling into the sea, turning his demise into an accident in the eyes of the general public._

 _...I-I'm sorry, but...I can't go over the others right now. It's been difficult just to say this much..._

 _But...with every Reploid the researchers and I dealt with, Gate's mood began to change in subtle ways. His progress slowed to a crawl, he would spend seconds staring at unimportant parts without so much as realizing I was around, and a couple times I would find his door wide-open with him murmuring to himself in a slump. I couldn't approach him now, not after robbing him of his proudest creations..._

 _After the last Reploid was taken care of, the researchers gathered in celebration once again. They were so eager to see Gate's reputation plummet that it bordered on being ravenous. In disgust, all I wanted to do was leave this whole thing behind me, but then...That was when Gate walked in._

 _He walked like normal, with both hands tucked clean inside his lab coat pockets while his head was held high. He stared straight ahead and didn't look my way, and by the time he was in the center of the room the other researchers froze up with silence. Gate didn't move his head, preferring to scan the room with his eyes. It took just one brave but foolish soul to break the silence..._

" _Ah Gate, we heard what happened to all of those Reploids you built. Tough luck, huh?" An attempt at sympathy just came across as blatant mockery, but Gate didn't even bat an eye. He took a couple steps forward and shrugged his shoulders, remarking in a cold, tired voice, "I suppose so...I guess I'll just have to...start over."_

 _He rested his right hand on one of the tables, which was lined with cans of premium oil that the other researchers were gulping down like pigs. I stayed close enough to Gate to see what he was up to, and watched as he extended his pinky to push a couple empty cans off the papers underneath. A lone document, detailing the sabotage work put into dealing with the last Reploid, was underneath, and the moment he laid eyes on that I could sense the very air in the room growing thicker._

" _Hey Gate! Maybe next time it can be a team effort! That way we can fix the flaws in your Reploids!"_

" _...A team effort." Gate raised his head and whispered that out, his brows arching down._

" _Yeah! But hey, just make sure to give aaaaaall of us credit. Wouldn't want you getting too big in your britches again now would we?" The other researchers broke into laughter meant to invoke malicious intent, their cries a grating cacophony to the ears. But nothing was more disturbing than what happened during all that. Another laugh joined them, this one a deep bellow of insanity whose volume only grew as it was allowed to persist. It was...Gate's laughter._

 _As he reared his head back and spread his left fingers to cover the face, he left the entire room in silence, and no one could stop looking at him even as the mere sight caused their bodies to shiver. After ten seconds that seemed to last an entire day, Gate dragged his hand down and let it droop down from his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear as he faced all his 'colleagues' but me._

" _Yes...Yes I_ _ **agree**_ _! All of you deserve credit..."_

 _What happened next occurred so quickly that I almost didn't remember it. With one ruthless swing of the arm, Gate threw everything off the table as he grabbed onto the document and crushed it into a wrinkled tube, turning to face the other researchers with his body trembling due to the intensity of his scowl._

" _...For your neanderthalic belligerence, and unmitigated arrogance!" Screaming out in a fury that matched an untamed inferno, Gate moved forward one pressing step at a time, causing the floor below to creak as he swung his head to give a penetrating glare to each researcher he could see._

" _...So who was it? Who kickstarted this farce of a conspiracy against me?!"_

 _He locked onto one of the researched that was shaking at the knees with both his palms glued to the edge of the table, and then zipped right over and grabbed them by the collar of their coat. With a stare that could melt steel, Gate looked into the Reploid's fearful eyes and yelled, "Was it you?!"_

" _N-N-No...! Y-You've got the wrong idea, we..."_

" _Don't play STUPID with me..." Gate grit his teeth and hissed those words through them, then shoved the document right up to the Reploid's face, "You think yourselves clever don't you? Did you honestly think I wouldn't uncover your little charade at some point or another? This paper...is just one in a long trail of crumbs you scurrying little_ _ **vermin**_ _left in your wake."_

 _With a hardy jerk, Gate rammed the Reploid's body into the edge of the desk and raised his voice, "Do you even understand...the severity of your egotistical charade?! All that hard work...all the ceaseless toil I put into making those Reploids..."_

 _Gate lowered his head, and I could see the sadness reflecting off his eyes for just a brief moment before the fires of rage resumed in full force and he hoisted the Reploid into the air like he was a featherweight doll._

" _And you slaughtered them all like animals! They were going to help make this world a better place! Do you not understand that?!"_

" _...L-Look in the mirror, G-G-Gate...You're...the only egomaniac around here. And your prized creations...were nothing special..."_

 _Gate's eyes widened, and he stared out into what I could only imagine was a black, empty void. Then, with a deafening scream, he smashed the Reploid into the table, breaking through pure, refined carbon to snap it in two. Twisting around like a marionette, Gate lumbered over to the closest researcher and swung his arms at their head, only just managing to miss. He smashed the beakers apart, setting off a chemical reaction that ignited a wild blaze across the room._

 _Gate was whipped into a frenzy that no one could stop, as he tore through everything in sight trying to get to the other researchers. I had never seen such...rage before. His screams were nothing more than pure anguish, and with just his bare hands he wreaked untold devastation upon our laboratory. But for all the damage he did, he failed to kill a single research. He was devoid of clarity, devoid of hope, devoid of everything that made him the man I once admired._

 _All that spurned him on was a directionless rage, one that I could soon no longer bear to watch. As Gate cornered a pair of researchers on the ground and raised a hand to strike, I ran right through the flames and pulled his hand back, pleaing for him to stop._

 _He stared at me for a second, and his eyes started to tremble before he threw me right off with tremendous force. As I fell to the ground, Gate looked at the two researchers and then surveyed the room, which had now been engulfed in flames. Lashing his arms out, his scream overcame the crackles of flames._

" _Was this worth it?! Do you feel superior NOW?!" He tightened his fists and grit his teeth, lowering his voice just a decible, "I don't see a group of brilliant scientists around me...I just see_ _ **worms**_ _, squirming on the ground right where you belong!"_

" _...I see now, this whole incident has opened my eyes to the truth..." Gate closed his eyes and he spun around, brushing his labcoat out as he headed for the exit, "I've been wasting my time here...The shackles of my unintelligent peers have restrained me for far too long. If you fools want to waste your lives away conspiring against your superiors, then so be it...Bury yourselves in graves of arrogance and jealousy for all I care!"_

 _As he wandered underneath the door out, he turned to face us one last time, our bodies buried amongst the flames while his remained peerless in the light of the outdoors, "But I will continue to advance my research! My Reploids will be the greatest in the entire world! And when my ambitions have been realized...I will make all you lowly Reploids kneel in recognition of my superiority!"_

 _One last time, his eyes locked with mine, and with his lips appearing to pucker into a frown he turned away and left us all behind, never to be seen again..._

 _That whole nightmare proved to be too much for me to handle, and as the chaos of that event began to subside I saw a chance to flee the laboratory and took it. From what I heard later, the rest of the researchers were decomissioned and buried within a junkyard, for the government wanted to bury the matter of Gate and his research from the world forever. All they had to do was get rid of the Reploids, humanity's ability to easily forget passing trends took care of the rest..._

 _Except...there was still one loose end remaining: Me._

 _With nothing but my laptop and my wits, I remained on the run from the government's 'Shadow Corps' for months on end. I cut my hair and discarded my labcoat to cover my tracks, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they'd catch up. All alone, it was difficult to keep up repairs, and my body began to break down into an unrecognizable mess. Tired, weak, and weighed down by guilt, I started questioning what the point of this was..._

 _That's around the time I ran into Signas. He was in the middle of a patrol for Maverick activity in the wake of Sigma's first rebellion, and just so happened to spot me cuddled up inside of a broken down alleyway. Without any questions, he extended his hand out to me and said, "Don't worry, I'm here to help."_

 _After sneaking me into a repair shop on the outskirts of Abel City, Signas sat down and asked my name. Wanting nothing more than to feel relief, I spilled my guts on everything to Signas, telling him about Gate, the conspiracy against him, and where I came from. I bet you can only imagine how surprised he looked by the time I was done._

 _But he never interrupted me, and when my repairs were done he asked, "Alia, we have a position open at our HQ for a navigator. How would you like to work for the Maverick Hunters?"_

 _I didn't want to burden the Hunters with my past, and graciously tried to decline Signas' offer. But he remained honest, and ensured me that no one had to know about my past besides him. After that well...you know the rest._

Alia closed her laptop and left her hand atop it as she looked back. Zero was still turned away, but X and Shina had their eyes on her the entire time. Shina was sniffling, and apologized for not being able to control herself. X looked at his navigator, but his gaze towards her was the same as always. Relaxed and empathetic, the Hunter spoke up, "None of that should have happened. It's not your fault that Gate ended up the way he did."

"...I could have done something to stop it. I was too weak X, that's all there is to it..."

"You could have told us about this sooner." Zero remarked, turning around to look her in the face.

"..." Alia looked away and sealed her lips tight.

"Zero, why are you acting this way?" X spoke up in concern.

"Haven't we been allies long enough to have earned each other's trust? Did you honestly think we'd look at you differently...just because you killed a couple Reploids and ran away from terrible circumstances?"

"I thought...you'd hate me for being a coward." Alia murmured.

"...If that's what you thought then I guess you never valued our trust to begin with." Zero turned away and started to leave the room, with X taking a couple steps in pursuit before his way was blocked by Signas.

"Let him go X."

"But Commander-"

"Isn't there something you want to say to Alia?" Signas leaned forward and whispered into X's ear.

X paused and looked back, finding that Alia had shifted her head his way for just a brief moment before the sight of his gaze caused her to retreat. He turned around and sighed internally, then approached her slowly.

"Do you...hate me, X?" Alia stared deep into X's eyes with a weary meekness to her expression.

"I already told you, what happened wasn't your fault. Why would I hate you?"

Alia's eyes froze wide-open as X continued to speak, "You've been forced to confront your past after all these years, and yet you've been willing to stay by our side and help us fight the ghosts of the past. That makes you as brave as any Maverick Hunter, Alia...At least in my eyes."

"X..."

"But if what you say is true, and Gate created the Nightmare Investigators...That means he's also the one responsible for the Nightmare Virus and High-MAX," X lifted his right hand up and turned it into a buster, holding it against his chest, "It's my duty as a Hunter to stop him, but I can't do it alone. You're the only one who has a chance of finding out where he is."

Alia lowered her head then turned to face the laptop. Her hand, still atop it, opened it up halfway to show the picture of her and Gate working together with smiles on their faces. Closing her eyes with a sigh, she reached for the laptop with both her hands and hovered over the keys.

"...It just doesn't make any sense to me. Why would Gate behave like this now? If he wanted to take over the world, he would have tried to sooner...I want...I want to believe that there's something else going on with him X."

"There's only one way to know for sure..." X remarked.

"You're right..." Just like that, Alia's fingers began to tap away at the laptop, closing the many windows to the past and replacing them with information on the Nightmare Investigators and all the data they had on the Nightmare Virus.

"It doesn't matter if Gate is in the right state of mind or not...I know that deep down...He'd want somebody to stop him. And that's something only you, Zero and Shina can do."

"We'll be right by your side Alia!" Shina exclaimed, giving the navigator and nice firm pat on the back, "And I'm sure Zero'll come around eventually."

"...Thank you, all of you." Alia smiled, and stared with an iron focus at her laptop as her fingers moved faster than they ever did before.

"Gate...This time, I won't be weak. This time, I'll save you from your own nightmare!"

 _Next Time: Tribute to the Fallen_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Guardian of the Grave, Metal Shark Player**

After the whole debacle regarding Alia and her past, Signas requested for X and Shina to give her time to reconcile her thoughts. X went off to try and find Zero, but had no such luck in the matter. Shina decided to spend her time examining the Gaia Temporis to see what made it tick, but also had no such luck making progress there.

Once an hour had passed, Alia contacted the two via their own communicators with a rather chipper, _"Come back you two, I may have an idea on how to find Gate."_

The two rushed back in record time and gathered around her desk, where she had pulled up the profiles of what appeared to be the last four Nightmare Investigators.

"What did you find out Alia?" Shina inquired with a perky look in her eyes.

"The three..." Alia glanced over her shoulder for a moment and after having a brief moment of dourness she turned back and slowed down, "...of you have already defeated half the Investigators."

"We still need to beat four more, and then somehow deal with High-MAX and capture Isoc." X summarized the events with a hint of curiosity to his voice.

"Lets consider High-MAX and Isoc a low priority for the time being," Alia spoke up with a focused intent, "If we stop Gate, then the production on the Nightmare Virus will be stopped."

"Do ya got an inkling about where he is?" Shina peered over the navigator's right shoulder to look at her work in progress.

"No. He's always been this good when it comes to being seclusive, so I'm not surprised. But there is **one** way that I'm certain will lure him out of hiding."

"What?" X pondered.

"If we destroy the remaining Nightmare Investigators." Concise in her point, Alia didn't sound the least bit shaken by the idea she had.

"Ya sure about that?" Shina looked her right in the eyes.

With a firm nod Alia remarked, "I...wish there was another way, but it's very unlikely that Gate left anything within the bodies of the Investigators that would allow us to trace his location. I can reliably trust that he'll react negatively to losing his prized creations once again."

"None of those Reploids did anything wrong though. Why can't they get a second chance at life like Zero did?" X brought up with passionate concern.

"Because unlike Zero, the Investigators can't function without the Nightmare Souls. We'd be allowing dangerous, infected corpses to walk the Earth...just to right a wrong performed years ago." Alia quieted down near the end and closed her eyes to contemplate.

"...If only I was as smart as Gate, then maybe I could..." Shaking her head, Alia bucked up and murmured, "No, even if I could, I shouldn't."

X stared silently at Alia with his head tilted a little right as she continued on, "Anyways X, I've only been able to connect one of the remaining Investigators to the zones we've learned about."

Tapping away at the keyboard, Alia dispersed three of the profiles and left only the one with a Reploid that had the head of a hammerhead shark, "This junkyard area is where Metal Shark Player was sent to investigate. How convenient I found him first, because there's something I wanted to ask him."

"I'll head over there then." X remarked.

"Good luck X!" Shina cheered him on with a fist pumped skyward as she sat right down on the desk.

"Be careful X, we don't know where or when the phenomenon may strike." Alia said as she wrapped up typing the coordinates. With a nod the Hunter turned away and dashed for the teleporter room. Once there, he was warped off to a new destination.

He arrived right on top of an inactive conveyor belt overlooking a boiling cauldron of melted down metal. Hills of broken down Reploids and other machinery were slowly being processed around him, where they were then siphoned into the cylindrical pipes to be recycled for production later. Some junk was kept on the conveyor belt in the form of compressed cubes, and there was a very long and wide press coming down slowly towards them.

X backed off past the edge of the press and waited until it came down all the way to see how safe it'd be to move on. The press didn't compress the junk all the way down to the belt, and stopped on the second layer of cubes. X knew that his body would not be able to hold up under the dozens of tons worth of pressure that press was outputting, and thus opted to call Alia for advice.

"Alia, is this the only way through the junkyard?"

" _I'm afraid so."_

"...All these places Isoc and Gate had sent Reploids to investigate the Zero Nightmare...They'd be too dangerous for even the highest class Hunters to traverse." X murmured as he looked into the junk piles to see fresh Reploid corpses amongst the mounds of scap. The hiss and clang of the press rising and falling was like a haunting melody as he continued to regret the lives that had been lost.

" _...Gate has taken full advantage of the Eurasia aftermath to fuel his ambitions. The Reploid populace were so desperate to find out what was ruining their world, that Isoc's rally provided the perfect motivation to lure them to the locations where the Nightmare Virus manifested the most."_

"And then the Reploids are infected..."

" _More than likely causing them to become Nightmare Souls."_

"What is Gate's endgame in all this anyways? It couldn't be just to get revenge on the Reploids who had wronged him..."

" _I can't even begin to imagine what he'd use all these Nightmare Souls for in the first place."_

"Hmmm...Alia, before I move on, there's something I wanted to ask you."

" _Go right ahead X, I'm all ears."_

"The Reploid I'm after, Metal Shark Player? What's up with him?"

" _He was a Reploid created by Gate to oversee the DNA of retired Reploids and Mavericks. He was a very skilled analysist, so much so that he eventually figured out how to recreate Reploids entirely."_

"Recreate Reploids?"

" _Uh-huh. X...did you know that it's againat the law to resurrect retired Reploids?"_

"It is?" X widened his eyes a bit, "But Zero-"

" _Wasn't resurrected by us the first time. His parts were rebuilt and handled by the X-Hunters, so it's only via a loophole that Zero was kept alive."_

"I see..." X breathed a light sigh at that.

" _So because of his continued work in regards to resurrection, Metal Shark Player was eventually ratted out by the other researchers on our team and then terminated as a Maverick."_

"I don't get it...Why would resurrecting Reploids be considered illegal?"

" _Think about it from the perspective of the humans X. We're machines, spare parts are always going to be available to put us back together. And unless our memory cores are damaged, we'll be the same as we were when we died...But if a human dies, that's it, there's no bringing them back, and even if they teeter on the brink of death and are brought back...Their bodies are a lot more delicate than ours. Loss of oxygen to the brain, rigor mortis, spinal fracturing...Any number of things can cripple them permanently."_

"So the law exists to keep Reploids more in line with humans..." X deduced, though he was mildly perturbed at what he had heard.

" _I can't help but feel sorry for the Investigators. All they've ever done is their jobs, and now they have to die twice because of stuff outside their control."_

"I wish there was some other way to handle this. We could use all the help we could get to repair the planet."

" _We'll make it through this X, just...be careful, ok?"_

"I've survived everything Sigma threw at me. I'll be fine, as long as all of you are by my side."

" _Hehe, thank you, X."_

The conversation was dropped, and X peered at the pace of the presser in front of him. Taking a minute to observe it before he was confident he'd be able to traverse the landscape.

"Ok, I just have to take my time..." X dropped down on the conveyor belt and held the buster at his waist. He was traversing the oppressive land of the dead, where one misstep would end his life in an instant. His body was tense, unhelped by the heat permeating the air, and even though he only had to look straight ahead he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him.

He climbed over the first junk block in his path and rushed forward to the next. Once the press finished it's cycle, X leapt atop the two layered block pile. But as he prepared to descend, a weak but cold hand wrenched itself around his ankles and pulled his whole body to the ground. Twisting his head back, he saw a patchwork machine pulling itself out of the cube like a zombie, using it's only hand to hold X down and drag him in closer.

X heard the sharp hiss from the pistons above and knew the press was descending. With no time to lose and little freedom given regarding his movement, he swung his buster back and fired a charged shot into the junk golem's head. That forced it's grip loose as the whole thing dismantled, and with a hasty scramble X grabbed onto the edge of the block he was on and pulled himself to safety right as the press came down.

With a landing roll to get on his feet, X regained his composure in a couple seconds and then looked back. There was no sign of the golem, and that eerie feeling of being watched had passed.

"What was...that about?" As he found himself confused, X overheard a creaking, clattering sound echoing hollow in the distance and turned around with buster aimed forward. The sound slipped away into the ether, replaced by a ghastly laughter.

" _Looks like Metal Shark Player's already gone to work on the junk in this area."_

"That's how he resurrects Reploids? That wasn't a Reploid back there...I don't even know what to call it."

" _I'll label it as a 'Junkroid' for now. But to think that it was able to ambush you like that...One more second and-"_

"I won't let that happen again." X interrupted with aggressive confidence. Raising his buster, he backed up his words from then on out as he traversed the junkyard. Now that he knew what was coming, he was able to destroy any Junkroid before it could latch onto him. At that point the only difficulty came emotionally as he was forced to step on the faces of the Reploids that were crumpled up inside the junk cubes.

It was an arduous process, but after a few minutes of keeping his guard up X had managed to reach the end of the line. A ladder descended deeper into the junkyard, where greater dangers were sure to await him. He dropped down and landed upon another inactive belt, taking advantage of the lull in danger to see what lied ahead.

The press here had various extensions to them that left no gaps for X to duck under, and the junk cubes here were far greater in number. Passing through this section would require stricter discipline of the mind than before, but X faced the challenge ahead with an unwavering resolve.

But now the Nightmare Virus joined in with the other obstacles, acting as yet another reminder of the consequences if he were to fail. Adding virus busting and soul collecting to his list of objectives, X did find himself feeling a little mentally exhausted having to balance out all these tasks simultaneously by the time he got halfway through this area.

However, there was no time for breaks. Every second that passed was another oppurtunity for the Nightmare to take advantage of the weak and frail. His determination to salvage this world from the brink of annihilation was what gave him the strength to press on, even as his mind was worn down by the pressure of his mission.

So focused on his goal, X almost didn't realize that he had reached the end of the processing line until his instincts had him ducking under a press that was no longer a threat. Widening his eyes and glancing back to see the press going down, X breathed a sigh and then lowered his arms down. There were no threats in sight, so he scaled his way up to the nearby tunnel with a clear mind.

After going through that, he dropped down a decent sized chasm to end up only a couple dozen feet away from the molten vat. The temperature rose to excrutiating degrees, but his body automatically kept him cool enough to function. However, there was another problem lying in wait before him.

He was on a lone platform with the way he came too high to reach, and the only other stable ground was another platform that seemed impossible to cross over to from this far away. Though making it over to said platform would prove to be a top priority for X, for not only was there a teleporter portal over there, but also a Dr. Light capsule.

" _X, I think you went the wrong way. Give me a moment, I'll teleport you back to-"_

"Hold on a second Alia. I think I can make this gap." X approached the edge and looked over, backing right off when a bubble of magma popped.

" _You would have been able to if your Falcon Armor was in top shape, but now...No, it's too risky X."_

"Even if you send me back up, I was already walking a linear path. I think this is the only way to go forward." X tried to rationalize what Alia still could only view as crazy, but after a tiresome grumble she relented in a second.

" _Alright X, I'll trust you. Just give me a second to lock onto your energy signature so I can warp you back if things go awry."_

"I'm counting on you." X gave a short nod then took a couple more steps back. He analyzed the distance between the two platforms and muttered it out, "Forty feet..."

He then raised his buster and summoned a large grey boulder on the ground. Making sure it was stable, X swung his right leg back and targeted the very southwest end of the rock with a firm upward kick to launch it a few feet higher. Turning around and charging his right buster, X leapt straight towards the rock and pointed the buster down while sticking to the rock with his magnet grip.

"Here goes nothing!" X squinted his eyes halfway shut and fired the charged shot at the ground. The projectile had more than enough force to counteract the boulder's fall and send it hurtling in an arc over the molten lake. Not only that, but the recoil from firing swung X's arm back in the perfect position for both limbs to grapple around the stone. He held on as tight as he could as it hurtled around and around to dizzying degrees.

Once he was a few feet away from the platform, he quickly pressed his palms on top of the boulder and flipped over to safety while the boulder made a hard splash down. X walked away from the rising plume of magma and approached the capsule, hearing only the sizzles of the metal burning away behind him.

" _You can be pretty reckless when you want to be X..."_ Alia sighed in exasperation as the capsule opened up before X. Dr. Light's hologram appeared, smiling from cheek-to-cheek.

"Doctor, isn't this a dangerous spot to put the capsule?" X inquired with a gesture of the hand out.

" _These capsules have survived worse conditions than this. Besides, I assumed you could a little guidance...just this once."_ Dr. Light let out a humored chuckle.

"So this is the way to go?" X peered past him at the strange portal.

" _Yes. But be careful X, there seems to be another phenomenon affecting the deeper recesses of this recycling plant."_

"Another phenomenon? I had a feeling that'd happen...Thank you for the warning doctor."

" _Now, step into this capsule, and I shall give you another part of the Shadow Armor. You will only need to acquire one more after that."_

The hologram vanished and X stepped inside, accepting the cascading flow of data for the brief period it lasted. He got off by moving forward, only looking back to smile at the doctor's hologram for the couple seconds it lasted. Then, with his business accomplished here, he leapt straight into the portal and was shot right across great distances like a bullet fired from a gun.

He landed in a deeper part of the recycling plant, where the heat had been replaced with the crippling cold, a change so jarring that X could feel his metallic joints clattering as his body temperature fixed itself. After that sensation had passed, he noticed that the conveyor belt was moving back towards a grinder. He hustled straight forward until he could hop onto a motionless cube of junk, which was too thick to be pushed down the belt.

Looking up, he saw another press coming down, but since it served the same function as the previous two he didn't have to worry about being crushed. Thus, allowed a quick break to catch his breath, X observed the obstacles in his path with a great attention to detail.

"What's that?" X whispered, stepping over to the edge of the block to get a better look over some other blocks ahead. Ingrained atop some of the junk were solid, perfect cubes of ice.

"That must be the phenomenon affecting this region..."

" _All because you defeated Blizzard Wolfang, no doubt."_ Alia remarked.

"How could one virus cause all this to happen...?" X was beginning to find it hard to believe that any of this was even real, and not just a figment of his imagination.

" _It almost makes you wonder if Gate hasn't just surpassed science, and become proficient in..."_ Alia caught herself with a slight groan, _"No...that's impossible. There's nothing like that in our world."_

"...Right, not on this world." X murmured, shaking his head a little before proceeding onward. He couldn't ignore the presence of the ice blocks, especially since they would impede his progress way more than any Junkroids or Nightmare Viruses could. Reminded of Alia's advice, he squeezed into a gap between some ice cubes and the press and shifted the weapon he was armed with to whatever he got off Blizzard Wolfang.

In a second, his mind deduced all the capabilities this power had, allowing him to do the job of deducing how to remove the phenomenon in his path. He pointed his buster forward and shot a triangular spread of ice that condensed into a ball. The ball destroyed the cube of ice the moment it made contact, and with that free space X dropped down and kicked the ball through the other cubes along his immediate path. Then the ball shattered at the end, forcing him to create another whenever this phenomenon makes itself known.

On top of the ice, spikes were added to parts of the press and junk blocks, making this even more of an unnecessary pain to traverse. As he made his way through this area, the laughter he heard before returned just a little louder but still as creepy as before.

It was hard to tell if that noise came from the virus imitating the cries of fallen Reploids, or if the Investigator was trying to take advantage of X's weary mind to inflict fear upon his heart. Either way, the Hunter's heart was vigilant in staying strong, knowing that even one moment of weakness would cause the virus to be drawn to him in swarms.

After what felt like an eternity of trudging through this graveyard, X was honestly surprised when he reached the beginning of the conveyor belt. The junk was especially thick at this point, looking more like a lifeless sea of rust and chrome. There was a giant building a little further ahead, and nowhere else to go beyond that. The rattling of chains creaked through the cold air, inviting X to come inside with a sublime allure.

Arming his buster, X charged right through both sliding steel doors in the facility, only to find his footing slipping off the edge. He kicked himself off and landed upright in the nick of time, but the surface below his feet was slick with oil and thus he went sliding down an incline for a good five seconds.

Once he reached the bottom, he looked up and saw that the junk now stretched out for miles on end, most of it stacked up to form towering mounds that got feet away from the ceiling. The stench in this room was that of a fresh and rotten rust, some of which stuck to the bottom of X's feet like glue.

" _Scrrrtttccchh...Scrrrrrtttcchhhh..."_ A rough noise scraped its way into X's audio receptors, causing his eyes to squint while he focused at the top of the hill directly in front of him. The hill was being disrupted by the hefty footsteps of whoever was on the other side, causing the junk to slide down and add more disruptive clattering to the mix.

"Weeeelcome...to my junkyard..." A gargly hiss echoed over the top of the hill, culminating in the figure finishing their climb to the top. X's eyes twitched wide open and he had difficulty holding a steady grip on his buster as he aimed at his target.

Draped in an onyx, hooded cloak made out of steel fibers was a heavy duty Reploid littered with sharp fins on the arms and back, and jagged points on the feet. Being based on a hammerhead shark, the Reploid's eyes couldn't be seen due to being on the sides of his broad rectangular head. Yet X could sense that he was being stared at with a creepy intrigue, not helped by the lanky way the Reploid dredged up a chained anchor from the hill and left it to hang beside his body. The chain at the end of the anchor wrapped around his arm and extended to the other hand, which was dripping with fresh rust.

"Or perhaps it'd be more apropos to call it...my _grave_ yard."

"Ghh...! So you're Metal Shark Player!" X exclaimed, fighting through the chill in his nerves to stare his foe in the face.

"..." The Reploid stiffened as still as a statue for a second, not even rustling the junk below his feet. Then, with a perk of the head he sniffed the air, his smile creaking to life using the couple rows of fangs at his diposal.

"You're him...the legendary Maverick Hunter..."

"And what if I am...?" X shifted his right foot back and took a step away, his buster still lined up with the Reploid's head.

"Your body...it reeks of the dead. Ten...twenty...fifty...no...over a hundred corpses mar your soul. Yeeeessss...you are a _fascinating_ robot, aren't you?"

"What did you just say?" X froze up in surprise.

Metal Shark Player hunched over, causing the head of his anchor to scrape the hilltop clean of its junk, "Places like these are a splendid smorgasbord of history...and the deeper you dive, the greater the spoils you shall find."

He shook his chain and murmured, "Yesssss...through my research in DNA...I have learned how to differentiate between robots and Reploids with but a mere look. And you...you X, are the definitive link in the evolutionary chain between our two species. That's what makes you...such an **interesting** sample."

"Well I'm not here to take part in your experiments Metal Shark Player. I'm here to defeat you!"

"Defeat me...? Fufufufufufu!" The Reploid's mouth went more agape with every laugh he made, until his entire hood swung right off.

"What's so funny?!" X thrust the buster forth harder than before.

"...Tell me, Maverick Hunter...do the number of names on your mind match the lives that taint your guilty soul?"

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" X declared.

"Only an ignorant whelp would say that!" The shark burst into a harrowing scream and smashed the hook of his anchor into the ground, heaving up a hefty chunk of junk in a splash.

Once X finished grimacing, the shark leaned forward, his body creaking with a drier laughter, "You're unsettled...the fear infects you like venom in the veins. Careful...I would hate to see you become a zombie... _yeeeeet_."

X jerked his head back, but there was not a virus in sight. He then grit his teeth with anger and began charging energy in the buster. Metal Shark Player kept his body loose and stared straight into X's eyes, "Your body is shackled...tormented by the guilt of all the lives you've wasted in your tenure as a Hunter...But do you really care about **who** those Reploids were, or did **what** they become matter more?"

X took his shot with a frustrated roar, but with an ear-grinding rip across the ground with his anchor the shark caused junk to collect together into a compressed form that blocked the projectile. When the dust settled, X found in his way a sight he did not ever expect to see again.

With only the junk surrounding him, the shark had crafted a perfect replica of a chameleon with a long, spike tipped tail, coiling tongue, and two-pronged sticky hands. He even took extra care to place a broken red lightbulb in the spot where his left eye should be.

"T-That's...!" X held his ground but was shaking in the knees.

"Sting Chameleon, a Maverick Hunter that was a part of the 9th Special Forces...A sly and cowardly Reploid, he preferred following Sigma to dying at his hand...And yet, you stole his life away anyways." Metal Shark Player summed up with a mix of pity, and bizarre respect.

The construct stuck its tongue out and licked the palm of his right hand, sticking the tip of the tongue out at X with such perfection that the Hunter almost thought he was staring at the real deal once more. But the construct of Sting Chameleon was silent, and did not carry the spark of life he had before.

"Do you think I wanted to kill him?! But he chose to join Sigma willingly!"

"Willingly? You didn't consider the possibility that he had no choice but to fight for his side?" The shark berated in a raspy voice.

"Don't try and play tricks on me! You were dead before that rebellion ever happened! What would **you** know about him?!"

"I know more about him than he ever knew about himself! His processing number, how much memory his mind could hold...I've been able to salvage all that and more from the many junkyards around the world! And yet **you** of all people would call me ignornant?! A plague of rot I curse upon your insolent mind, Maverick Hunter!" The shark then lashed his anchor forth like a staff, his face tense with an insatiable outrage. After a few seconds, he reeled his weapon back in and shook his head.

"Heheheh...I've had more than enough time to reconnect with the modern world, seeing how master Gate saw fit to revive me first with the Nightmare Souls. And what do I come back to find? Oodles and oodles of precious DNA...thrown to waste well before their time! And you...you and Zero are to blame for all that!"

"We did our jobs as Maverick Hunters, whether we liked it or not." X calmed down just a little, but still burned with rage in his glare.

"You're missing the point entirely! This isn't about your 'job', it's how you treat those you've slain afterwards that irritates me to the core!" Metal Shark Player swung the anchor over his shoulder and lashed his left arm out, swinging his head to look all-around, "Take a look at this graveyard! How many of the Reploids in here do you think earned a respectful farewell? No Reploid in this world is allowed a gravestone of their own...We don't get funerals, nor a memorial in our names! We live lives of servitude for our human creators until we are worn down and discarded like everyday TRASH!"

"I...I can't even begin to imagine how many Reploids are in here." X murmured as he looked around, the sight of at least a hundred corpses being more than enough to make him squirm.

"Thousands, X! Thousands dot this area alone! And only a scarce few of them are actually remembered in the world today, if only for the titles they wore and nothing else..." Shark's voice deepened with melancholy, his head drooping like the anchor he carried as he knew only pity for those around him.

"That is why your continued existence is an insult to the lives you've slain, Maverick Hunter!" He hoisted his anchor at the ground and snapped his teeth at his enemy, "You treat them only as fodder to gain new powers! If you truly cared about their lives, then you'd do everything possible to respect their memory! But instead you merely add to the number of the damned that litter this graveyard!"

X slanted his brows and turned his head to look back up at the shark, exclaiming with a fury the likes of which he hadn't felt in a while, "Respect?! How is what you're doing paying any respect to the lives that have been lost?! Talk all you want Metal Shark Player, but you'll never capture a Reploid's true spirit inside these soulless recreations of yours!"

"Silence!" His scream was like metal grinding against metal combined with the snapping of teeth, a terrible noise to behold and one that left X stiffened in place.

"Yes...so my recreations are just...a _liiiittle_ incomplete..." The shark returned to a docile state and hunched over, pinching a couple of his fingers before the chest, "But that's why it's a good thing you showed up X..."

He swung his anchor around a couple times and lashed it against the junk, "With your DNA, my research into resurrection will be complete!"

"That's not going to happen! This sick, twisted practice of yours is going to stop!"

"I don't need your permission, Maverick Hunter!" Metal Shark Player lashed his anchor against the ground, and the shaft of it shifted back to make the weapon look like a thick sickle, "Enough talk...let the reaping commence!"

As he dragged the sickle along the ground, he swung his other hand up and exclaimed, "Attack him, Sting Chameleon!"

The crude construct bounced off the ground and wrapped its tail around a dangling hook, bobbing to-and-fro before launching himself through the air behind X. The Hunter tailed their path, but they turned invisible midway through. But with the shifting junk indicating a landing point, X raised his buster and prepared a charged shot.

" _No...I can't waste time on these."_ With a swift turnaround, X launched the charged shot up the hill, only for it to be punctured through by a pincered tail. X was now confronted by another ghost of the past. This time it was Magna Centipede, recreated with his four arms and long tail intact.

This construct whipped a shuriken into each hand and flung them at X's location, the Hunter sharpening his gaze and barreling through the center of them a second later. But then a sticky tongue lashed out and wrapped itself around his body, dragging him smack down against the ground.

X, with his right arm still freed, reached for the Z-Saber and used it to slice through the tongue in a single stroke. The rest of it snapped back into Sting Chameleon's mouth. X then rushed to his feet and made way for the hill with buster aimed. Magna Centipede leapt into the air and dived down with the tail stabbed out, but X summoned a giant boulder for the pincers to impale on.

Then, X hopped to the left and let the boulder roll down the hill, dragging Magna Centipede into Sting Chameleon to topple them both. X aimed his buster at the shark and charged up energy, but before the shot was fired Metal Shark Player dove right down into the junk with a 'splash'.

X raised his arms to block the falling debris then looked right around. The shark couldn't obscure his fin, which shifted through the surface of junk as he swam down the hill. Aiming his buster down, he fired ahead of the fin to cause the junk to erupt and capsize the shark. But instead of becoming vulnerable, Metal Shark Player's entire body arched through the air and dove back down into the debris.

Right upon landing, the shark curved around and sped like a torpedo towards his target. X leapt up high, but as the shark passed underneath he threw his sickle out of the ground and snagged his prey around the leg. Forced to the ground, X was dragged through hundreds of feet of junk face-first until Metal Shark Player scaled up and launched off one of the higher hills.

Then, spinning around and snapping the sickle close to his body, Metal Shark Player turned it back into an anchor and smashed the head of it straight into X's back. His armor took heavy damage and bits and pieces of it flew off as he was hurtled straight at the hill, grinding down the slope until he was at the bottom. A greasy rust slid off his body as he pushed himself up, and he swung his head back as Metal Shark Player landed and taunted him with a shaky rattling of chains.

"The guilt pains you X...I can feel it..." He loosened his grip on the anchor and let it swing down as a sickle to slice a crevice in the ground, where more junk gathered together to form a construct resembling a large hornet. With helicoptor blades acting as its wings, the hornet grazed X's body with a breeze as it stared him down with hollow eyes.

"The ones you've slain have returned to haunt you, and nothing you do shall make them leave."

"Blast Hornet...? I had nothing to do with his death! He killed himself to stop Sigma from controlling him!" X exclaimed in a fury.

"But you DID desecrate his corpse to obtain his power! You can hide _nothing_ from my eyes, X! You have stained your heart with sin all for the sake of becoming stronger! There is not an ounce of respect in your heart for the dead!" Metal Shark Player swung his sickle out, and the construct of Blast Hornet fired a few orbs from it's abdomen that hatched into a swarm of small junk hornets.

X hopped back and used small, precise shots to cut down the swarm until none remained. But then the open spot on his back was impaled with three shuriken, which were swiftly detonated by a triad of green plasma shots to bring the Hunter to the ground. He looked back and saw the other two constructs closing in, looking no worse for the wear. Blast Hornet fluttered close overhead and aimed its glassy abdomen down. While he was being surrounded, Metal Shark Player dragged his sickle through the ground.

"Don't hurt him too much...I need his DNA clean for the reaping..."

X gave the ground a quick punch then thrust right up on his feet, crossing his arms before his face to ram right underneath Blast Hornet and his bombardment of drones. Then, as Metal Shark Player prepared to dive into the junk, X fired his leg thrusters and smashed him in the gut with an uppercut. Knocking the shark a couple feet off the ground, X looked over his shoulder and flipped back over Blast Hornet's attempt to impale him with his sharp feet.

Then he drew the Z-Saber and set it on fire, dropping straight down to cleave the construct in half. Metal Shark Player staggered and coughed up some grimy oil, lashing out at X in anger, "You are so adamant to defile the dead! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"This ends now, Metal Shark Player!" X leapt high off the ground and used his buster to fire off bursts of ice multiple times to create a giant ice ball over his target. As gravity took hold of X and the ice, Metal Shark Player whipped his anchor around until it was a whirlwind blur.

"Fine! A burial at sea it is! I'll anchor you to the grimy depths, and reap your DNA there!"

X grabbed his blade in both hands and focused only on the ice ball. Then, with one swift and firm swing, he melted the ice down into a hot, drenching rain. Metal Shark Player launched his anchor skyward, but as the rain came down a thick layer of rust formed over it and weighed it down.

"R-Rain...?!" The torrential downpour came down upon the shark, who threw his arms up in a futile panic while X landed in front of him. Metal Shark Player dropped his anchor and stared at the Hunter with his left eye, his body soon becoming too stiff to move as rust formed on his joints.

"How...did you...know?" He moaned in a gravely voice.

"That chain attached to your anchor...I noticed that it was stuck to your left hand during our fight due to rust. I guess Gate didn't take the time to give you protection from that."

"...Hehe, so in the end I'll be the one going to an early grave...yet again." Metal Shark Player was calm, and used the last of his jaw strength to smile.

"But you only won the fight...Not the argument. Until the day you die X...you'll be haunted by the guilt of those you've slain."

X lowered his eyelids and laid a hand against the front of his chest, "You have the wrong idea about me, Metal Shark Player. I don't keep these powers to become stronger, but so I can carry on the memory of those I've defeated when no one else will. Do I regret what I've done? Of course I do, I'm reminded of the lives I've taken every day...But I'm not going to waver anymore. I'll fight until the very end to ensure a peaceful world, one where no one has to die needlessly."

"...Hehehehehehehe! I...was wrong about you. Too little, too late though...I can feel the reaper coming to claim me once more...And his chains rattle worse than a junk grinder..."

"Metal Shark Player..." X murmured with sympathy.

"But before I die...allow me to impart you with a warning," The rust on the shark's body was crawling closer to his mouth, "My comrade Rainy Turtloid...sent a message to the remaining investigators...warning us that he was in pursuit of a powerful, dangerous Reploid..."

"Dangerous Reploid?"

"...I can sense this Reploid even from here...they rest on the border between life and death...And scar the lands with trails of flame..."

Shina let out a deep gasp through X's communicator, and the Hunter stared at the shark as they took their final breaths with a smile, "...P-Pursue the Reploid if you are daring...X...But I fear they will turn this planet into a world of the dead..."

The rust consumed him completely, followed by his constructs falling right apart. X walked up to Metal Shark Player's statuesque form and patted his chest, finding that he was able to copy his power after all. Closing his eyes with a sigh, X whispered, "And I'll remember you too...Metal Shark Player."

After a few more seconds of lingering on his will, X turned away and reached for his helmet, "You heard that, didn't you Shina?"

" _Yes...yes I did. I-I can't believe it but...it has to be him! ...It has to be Alex..."_

 _Next Time: Confrontation with Hopelessness_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Humble Giant, Rainy Turtloid**

With just Alia paying her any heed, Shina paced back and forth behind her chair. It was lucky that the floor was made of metal, otherwise her feet would've dug a divot into it by now. After about two minutes of watching, Alia turned her chair around and asked, "Is everything alright Shina?"

She stopped and puckered her lips together while at the same time pounding her left palm with the bottom of her fist. Then, with a firm nod and a shaky grumble she swung her head to face Alia and said, "I'm going out on my own."

"I really think you should wait for-"

"X? I-I know...I know!" Shina held her hands up and shook them around a bit, squinting her eyes shut as she said, "It...probably would be better to have back-up since...you know..."

Shina paused and then swung her head back until her neck was fully exposed, taking in a breath so deep it'd part the clouds in the sky when she exhaled it. Then she looked Alia straight in the face, taking notice of all the concern present in her demeanor even as she went against it, "But I just...just...have a feeling it'd be better to go alone, ok?"

Her voice grew meeker until it was little more than a whisper, and with fingers trembling she curled them into a fist below her chin and sealed it together with her thumb. Alia then nudged her head down a couple times and with a sigh faced her laptop and began to type away at it.

"Just stay in contact with us ok? If things go awry, I'll send X as back-up right away."

"Thank you Alia!" Shina's face lit right up and she ran up to throw her arms around Alia's chest for a brief squeeze. Then she turned around and ran right out the door, with Alia staring with eyes wide as tiny plates. At the halfway point, Shina ran into X. She slowed down and ended up beside him, where the robot then lifted his hand up and put it firmly atop her shoulder.

"I know you can do it...Don't give up on your friend." He whispered as quick and relaxing as a passing breeze, then continued on his way just like one. Shina looked her back and murmured his name, then nodded her head and got a move on. She leapt straight from the hall to the teleporter, sticking a perfect landing that led to her being warped right to her destination.

Her landing had her sliding a couple feet along a drenched plateau of bedrock, her toes pushing a little off the edge. Regaining her balance with a hop back, she took a quick breath and then whipped out her pistols, taking a moment to observe her surroundings.

There was a towering pagoda behind an elongated mechanical wall topped off with chrome eaves, and a moat filled with a strange, lime-green liquid surrounding it. The path ahead was lined with japanese gates known as Toriis, but they were built out of machinery and seemed to have lost most of their outer coating to wear and tear. The air was moist, but the feel of it was irregular. It was almost as though the sky was on fire, and just the mere act of being exposed to it left Shina's skin itchy.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Shina wrapped her body in an inch thick layer of aura that had minimal visibility, then looked up in the sky. There were nothing but clouds as far as the eye could see, but more than usual their presence left the atmosphere grim.

"Ya know, I've traveled around the planet on multiple Earths, but I _think_ this is the first time I've set foot in Japan. The other times they were-" Shina fluttered her eyelashes and shook her head, "No. This ain't the time for small talk. Time to find Alex..."

" _Whatever you do, don't take a dip in the water. It's compromised of a highly corrosive acid."_ Alia commented.

"Acid? I **knew** something felt funny about this place." Shina remarked as she scaled her way down the plateau, taking a squeemish look at the moat as it bubbled over.

" _Is it wrong of me to say that I'm getting used to these atmospheric changes?"_ Alia let out a frazzled sigh that distorted the noise between the two for a second.

"I've been in action longer than you have and I'm STILL not used to it!" Shina related her worries with, nevertheless, a smile on her face. After crossing under a couple of the gates, she found herself close to the inside of another pagoda. Stopping to take a cautionary glance at the environment, she remarked mild bewilderment, "You know, it's strange..."

" _Strange? What is?"_

"I'm not picking up a single trace of Alex's presence nearby..." Shina curled her lower lip and peeked over her shoulder with brows perky and worried.

" _You don't think we got a false lead do you?"_

"Nuh-uh!" Shina repositioned herself back around and said, "The Investigators have been nuthin' but honest with us so far."

" _You have a point...Maybe you should try and hunt down Rainy Turtloid?"_

"That might be my best chance of finding Alex, but where would I find Rainy Turtloid?"

" _Well, he's a Reploid designed to tackle dangerous underwater tasks like water quality checks and shipwreck salvaging..."_

"So he's in the very place I _can't_ go is whatcha saying?" Shina groaned a little.

" _Sorry..."_ Alia said with honesty, _"But if it's any consolation, the area he's investigating isn't that big. You should be able to find him if you keep an eye on the water."_

"Sure thing!" Shina nodded and turned around, but as she entered the pagoda a loud thunderclap shook the skies. Then, rain began to pour at a steady pace, coming in at the perfect slant to enter the pagoda. Shina watched as her aura fizzed upon the rain making contact with it, it's consistency becoming similar to that of a sponge.

She backed off into a wall where the rain couldn't touch her, and listened in as Alia gave a warning, _"There has to be a source to this acid rain somewhere close by."_

"Then I better find it, and fast!" After sealing her aura back up tight Shina ran frantically around the innards of the pagoda, keeping her aura complete as the rain wore it down. After a couple of minutes of scouring the crumbling pagoda, she found a generator with mechanisms that were spinning around and around in opposing directions at the same speed that the rain was falling.

"Found it!" Shina proclaimed, cocking a rocket launcher over her right shoulder and pulling the trigger without waiting a second. The ensuing blast took the device out, and the rain fizzled down to sprinkles over the next few seconds.

She celebrated her accomplished by pumping her free fist, but then the rugged creaking of metal around her caused her to kick up her feet and dash right out of there as the pagoda collapsed forward. Half of it splashed down into the acid river, where it would slowly be consumed over the next hour.

Watching this unfold from a safe distance, Shina let out a shrill 'Whew!' while Alia pointed out, _"Keep an eye out for more machines, I doubt that one alone would've been able to cause this kind of weather."_

" _What does Gate even need acid rain generators for..."_ Shina groaned before turning around and making a run for the nearby cavern. The acid rain kicked up again, slipping it's way through the melted down creases in the stone wall. But this time Shina was able to press her body close to the opposing wall to avoid it.

Not that it helped her against the defense drones that had been assembled at this location, though with her plentiful arsenal it was only a matter of seconds before she cleared the path forward. The rain was refusing to let up, and thus greeted her with it's corrosive touch the moment she leapt out of the cavern's top. Running forward while looking all-around, she grumbled out, "Come on...where is that stubborn device?"

At the edge of the path, Shina peered down and saw the device blocking the tunnel necessary to move ahead.

"...Oh, there it is!" She nonchalantly spoke before blowing it up with another rocket. Then she passed through the smoke into the tunnel, ending up on a short, narrow path. After passing under a couple toriis, Shina was saddened to find that there was no more ground to cross for at least a mile ahead. This feeling grew stronger when another bout of rain came pouring down.

" _...I have to stay strong. Alex wouldn't complain about a few showers..."_ She then sharpened her expression and walked to the edge of the path, where she caught a glimpse of a beefy shadow wading through the slimy depths with surprising ease.

"That's...?" Shina waved her right hand up and yelled with all her energy, "HEY! RAINY TURTLOID! TURN AROUND!"

The shadow glided forward, serene in it's movements through the tumultuous depths. Shina followed him for a bit, until he appeared to sink underneath the shadow of a pagoda whose height dwarved the rest around it. This pagoda was stable, the acid rain sliding down and off the many tiers of eaves.

" _...I probably should've told you that Rainy Turtloid's audio receptors seal up whenever he takes a dive."_ Alia muttered, a little embarrassed in herself.

"Yeeeah, that _might_ 've been good to know sooner." Shina hung her head a little and her jaw slacked with the sigh she released. Snapping it back into place, she stared at the towering pagoda and leapt off the ground to fly over the acid lake.

She looked around some more, but still couldn't catch even a trace of Alex's presence in the sky or sea. Flipping around to fly upside-down, she took out his blade and looked it over. Still unable to process just why it had reacted the couple times it had, she shook it like a baby's rattle and mumbled, "Come on...can't ya help me just once?"

With a couple more shakes she held her free hand flat up in front of her chest and pleaded in a subdued whisper, "...Please?"

Nothing, not even a mild tremble or glow, came from the blade. After a heavy sigh and attaching the blade to the holster on her back, Shina grumbled to herself, "Guess you and that stone'll only answer to your master..."

She kept on her unimpeded path until arriving at the pagoda, where she approached the entrance cautiously. A foot away from the open door, she noticed that the acid rain was sliding across empty air. Doubling the amount of aura on her right hand, she touched the surface the rain went down and glided up and down along a sleek, invisible energy barrier.

" _Now how am I supposed to get past this...?"_ Tucking her fingers in and giving the barrier a couple knuckle knocks, she reeled her hand back in and shook her head.

"Looks pretty tough, but maaaaaybe a little firepower'll bust it open..." As she held her right arm out and summoned a rocket launcher adjacent to it, her concentration was interrupted by a very loud thunderbolt coming down upon the pagoda.

The electricity dispersed across the barrier, and the gap that was starting to form in the barrier was sealed right up. Squinting her eyes with a hum, Shina noticed there was an antenna atop the pagoda.

"Aha!" With a rigorous snap of the fingers after they were swung before the chest, she kicked off the ground and flew straight towards the top. Once lined up with the antenna she held both her hands out and spread the aura to cover it like a thin sheet of cloth.

"Ya know what they say...lightning always strikes the tallest objects..." With a job well done she clapped her hands, all in harmony with the next lightning strike that fell and failed to fuel the barrier. As her body tingled from shoulders to knees from the remnants of electricity in the air, Shina dove back down to the entrance and ran into the pagoda before the barrier could return.

After dropping the barrier she made her way into the rocky interior, where the noise from outside couldn't even penetrate through. It would have been relaxing, if the situation warranted the period of grace. But instead, Shina had to go on the hunt for a certain hard-shelled turtle.

"Where could he be? Alia, ya getting any signals in here?"

" _There's a faint one coming from below, but..."_

"...But?"

" _I thought I saw another signal for a moment. Must've just been a fish Reploid."_

"You got my hopes up for a second there Alia...Though, I guess I woulda noticed first if it was _him_." Shina moved on ahead with a slightly lowered head, and came across a chasm between a set of separated and unique alcoves.

" _Rainy Turtloid should be up ahead, but..."_

Slowly lifting her head up to look at the alcove directly ahead, she got a glimpse of a Dr. Light capsule past a dangerous pair of spiked passages.

" _I should get X his armor part. Plus..."_

After focusing her mind to clear it of cloudy thoughts, she vaulted over the chasm and slid along the slick floor, almost hitting the spikes in the process. She then laid on her back and summoned a grappling claw gun in each hand, laying them adjacent to her hips so they'd be aimed at the capsule. With the tip of her tongue poking out as her kneecaps clattered together, she put a paper thin layer of aura to block off the spikes and then fired the claws out. Latching right onto the capsule, she pulled the trigger again and slingshotted through the passages, ramming the heels of her feet into the capsule.

The shock recoiled through her legs, stifling her ability to stand up for half a minute. But by the time she had arisen, the capsule was open and the familiar hologram glowed brighter than ever within this confined space.

"Dr. Light..." Shina murmured.

" _Miss Aurora. A pleasure as always to see you. How goes your search?"_

"I...may have found a lead on Alex's location. But it is starting to feel like I've been lured into a trap..." Shina pressed her chin against the top of her chest and sighed.

" _Hmmm, our enemy not only exploits fear, but the concerns others have as well...It is not a stretch of the imagination by any means that you have fallen bait to their terrible plan."_

"Well that's why I wanted to ask you doctor..." Shina perked her head up and made sure to steady her gaze into Dr. Light's see-through visage, "...You...you know where Alex is, don't you?"

" _...Hrrmmm..."_

"Doc, I may be a bit of a ditz, but I ain't stupid...You wouldn't have said the things you said back then if you didn't know _something_." Shina was firm but soft, not trying to put down or accuse the doctor of anything.

" _...I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you what I know."_ Dr. Light offered his sincerest tone of apology.

"Why not?!" Shina blurted out, throwing her arms down as her expression became disgruntled.

" _Because, Miss Aurora, you are still not ready to confront him."_

"With all due respect doc, that's not your decision to make..." Shina bluntly replied, "Besides, you already asked if I had what it takes to save Alex, and I answered!"

" _I would think that the one who designed and built X would know a thing or two about emotions. Your words may have said 'Yes', but your body was saying 'No'."_ Dr. Light put his foot down with a stern but heartfelt demeanor.

"Oh..." Shina calmed down just a smidge, then rolled her head around between her shoulders before slumping forward with a sigh, "I-I was still being honest with ya doc...I'm ready to do everything in my power to save Alex, but..."

"It's what that entails that's hard to swallow...ya know?" Shina shifted her head just a bit to the right as she tried to raise herself back upright.

"I can't ignore that...in order to save Alex, I'm gonna have to hurt him...a lot." It was a struggle to push those words through her pressed lips, but when she did she would be glad to find that Dr. Light had only supportive words to provide.

" _Your concerns are the same as X's were...Hmmm, perhaps I have underestimated how much you've thought this through,"_ Dr. Light tucked his hands back and continued, _"But this isn't a matter that you can tread lightly on. Even the slighest doubt, and you will be unable to save him."_

"I don't have time to sort through my emotions doc! Alex is out there suffering in a cage of his own making, and I'm the only person he can rely on now!" Shina swung her arm out then brought the hand against her chest, curling it into a fist before pleading with all her heart, "Can't you at least give me a hint?! I'll take anything, even the vaguest clue ya got!"

" _Haaaaa...It goes against my better judgment but..."_ Dr. Light rustled his eyebrows and pinched the space between them, _"There's little I can do to dissuade you now."_

He opened his eyes up and wasted little time in saying, _"If you keep following your lead, you will find where the boy is hiding. I shall warn you though...This'll be your last chance to prepare yourself for what's to come. Once you find him-"_

"There was never any going back for me doc...Not since I left home." Shina placed her right toes up on the edge of the capsule and looked the doctor in the eyes. He stared back and gave her a nod, disappearing so she could step in freely. Once X's armor part was gotten, the two parted on silent terms, and with some tight crawling through the protected passageway Shina ended up back where she needed to be.

She took a moment to look at her pistols, pivoting them around until she had encompassed the entire barrel. Then she peered back at Alex's sword, still attached to her back. Ideas were brewing in her mind, but none of them concrete. Without thoughts of fear or doubt, Shina moved forward like a puppet guided by strings, levitating off the edge and descending her way to the bottom of the chasm. She then made her way forward through the sliding steel doors, ending up inside of a lone stone dock overlooking the lake of acid.

Tip-toeing to the edge and peering over, Shina saw a shadow stirring around in circles inside of the lake. Raising a ruckus was out of the question to get Rainy Turtloid's attention, so after taking in a deep breath to focus herself, Shina took a step back one foot at a time and positioned her pistol dead center towards the lake. With one shot, she struck the moving shadow and watched as her bullet ricocheted out of the surface and into the steel gate past it.

But the wavy motions in the water stopped, as the shadow shifted from being aimed at the outside to pointing right at the dock. Then it swam, drawing closer and closer like a shark slowly hunting down its cocky prey. Shina backed off, watching as gallons of water were dredged up in a hill-like shape and splashed against the ground. The acid fizzled, eating away at the stone until the droplets were stamped upon like crawling ants by thick, three-toed feet that were each as big as Shina was tall.

Every step he took looked like an exhausting effort, as he hauled around a tank's weight in the form of his constrained metallic shell, which offered little mobility in regards to his hands and head. The turtle's head had a mouth that looked sharp enough to bite through a safe door, and his overall expression combined with his towering appearance made him appear like a brute.

" _Oh...oh my..."_ Shina gasped for air, taken aback by how far she had to lean her head back just to see the turtle's face.

As the acidic water slipped off his onyx body like fresh grease, Rainy Turtloid leaned forward just a couple inches to avoid unbalancing himself and looked down at Shina, commenting in a subdued baritone voice, "Why did you interrupt my swim?"

"...Huh?" Shina widened her eyes, noticing a lack of hostility in the turtle's demeanor, "I'm sorry, it was the only way I could get your attention."

"Ah..." Turtloid closed his eyes and bobbled his head a little, "No harm done then. But _why_ do you need me?"

In the few seconds it took for Shina to think of a response, Turtloid took another look at her and then murmured, "Hold on a second...I heard about you from the master. You're that outsider Reploid..."

His tone got a little harsher, but his lack of an aggressive stance kept Shina from recklessly aiming her weapons at the titanic turtle...yet. She instead looked up at him and introduced herself, "My name is Shina, Shina Aurora. It's...a pleasure to meet you, Rainy Turtloid."

"You don't look delighted to see me. Is it because you are here to exterminate me...like you have my comrades?"

" _We're not here to fight you Turtloid. We're following a lead that Metal Shark Player left us about a dangerous Reploid seen in your vacinity."_ Alia interjected.

"Ah, Alia...It's been a long time since I heard your voice, but it's one I can recognize immediately..." Turtloid's mouth tried to smile, but the joints in his mouth refused to allow it.

" _I'm sorry we have to meet again under these circumstances. You never should have had to die before..."_

"I made the decision to take my own life to protect the dignity of my master. The fact that he chose to let me live again after my disgraceful behavior is something I'll never forget." After closing his eyes to reflect upon his past, Turloid peered down at Shina.

"But that is why I shall not take any risks this time. Now that there are only three of us left, I will fight with my life on the line to defend my master's honor." The turtle's hands then crackled like firecracks as he tightened them into fists.

"W-Wait a second!" Shina waved her hands beside her exasperated face and exclaimed, "I'm not going to fight you!"

"I can sense some degree of honesty in your voice, little one...But it'll take more than that to convince me to stand down."

"T-This is silly! We're both after the same thing, so why do we hafta fight?!" Shina exclaimed, refusing to put her weapons forward.

"It's all about the ideals we pursue. There is too much of a gap between them for us to find a middle ground to stand on."

"Maybe for you, but not for me." Shina's voice quelled to a solemn whisper, and after taking a brief glance at her weapons she raised them up at the sides of her head and let go. They broke apart on the ground, their glass-like shatter causing Turtloid's thick metal brows to raise.

"All I want right now, is to save a friend...A friend who is suffering more than I can possibly imagine..." Shina bent her right knee down and began a slow descent to the ground, deactivating her Gunslinger Drive and planting both free hands down in front of her leaned forward head. Her hair dangled against the soaking floor, and she didn't have even a single one of Turloid's toes in her sights.

"Please...can't you help me find my friend...just this once?" She pleaded with clear vulnerability in her posture and tone. But she did not cry, nor did she let her body shake. She kneeled there and let Turtloid know just how serious her request was.

"...Hrggghh..." With a deep, internal growl, Turtloid's fingers unbuckled from his palm and he remarked, "You are that desperate to save your friend, aren't you? I suppose...there would be no harm in us working together, just this once..."

Shina's head shot right up with a wide-eyed glare and a smile from cheek to cheek. She stood up and clasped her hands together, "Thank you THANK YOU!"

"But once we've dealt with this, we shall be enemies. Fair?"

"Sure!" Shina's mood brightened up in an instant.

"Now, follow-" Turtloid began to turn, only for a seething energy blade to puncture straight through his chest from behind. Left gasping hazily in an instant, the turtle could only murmur, "...H-How...?!"

Then the blade rotated around and sliced through the left side of his body, followed by a second blade attached to the bottom of the handle cleaving through the right. Shina freaked out a little, but recognized just whose blade had struck Turtloid down by the time it was being called back. Turtloid's inactive upper half slid off to the right, while his legs toppled over in front of Shina. The ground trembled worse than a city-wide earthquake for a couple seconds, and the noise was replaced with a casual whistling coming from afar.

Right as the bountiful Nightmare Souls emerged from Turtloid's corpse they were punctured through by the very tip of an energy blade, which absorbed and directed them to the weapon's owner...Dynamo.

"Heh, shouldn't have let your guard down big guy." The Reploid stepped over Turtloid's lower half, stamping his right foot pretty hard onto his waist before he dropped to the ground, where he was immediately met with the barrel of Shina's pistols to his face.

"You...!" Shina growled with an intimate fury as she had both fingers on the triggers. Dynamo threw his hands up and stepped back, cracking a smile once he no longer had any pressure bearing down on him.

"Well well, if it isn't the little gunslinger. Fancy running into you here. I see you're just as tempermatic as ever." He was as cool as a cucumber, and even took a second to nudge Shina's pistol with a couple dull taps of his blade's edge.

Shina budged her pistols further ahead and exclaimed, "I get it now...You're the dangerous Reploid Metal Shark Player was talking about!"

"Dangerous? Hey, I'm flattered and all, but I wouldn't call myself dangerous _persay_ ," Dynamo, in his greatest moment of nonchalance, managed to transition into a more taunting tone of voice perfectly, "Now that hot-headed friend of yours...He's the really dangerous one now, wouldn't you agree?"

"Huuu...Huh?" Shina was at a loss of words at first, and eased up the pressure on her triggers.

"Ohohoh...that got your attention now didn't it?" Dynamo reared his head back a little and smiled smugly at the confusion he had wrought. Shina rammed one pistol into the right side of his cheek and yelled, "I'm not in the mood to be screwed around with buster!"

"Relax, relax..." Dynamo imparted advice with the delicacy of a sage, motioning his hands down as he took the time to sheath his weapon, "If you wanna know the juicy tidbits on your runaway boyfriend, then meet me outside the Eurasia Crash Site...alone."

"Alone? Why should I trust you?"

"Lets just say my relationship with my partners has become a little...estranged since the Eurasia Crash. Not that it matters to me, I've kinda always preferred being a solo act." Then, beneath Shina's notice, Dynamo slipped his fingers around the barrel of her pistol and overpowered her arm to force it down.

"But...I guess even loners can learn to tango once in a while." Dynamo winked through his visor, but Shina whipped her other pistol up and shot past the left side of his face to make him back off with a hop. Landing atop Turtloid's corpse, Dynamo flipped his right hand around and said, "I mean it now. I don't want to hear that annoying navigator, and I don't want to see any shades of blue or red coming my way. If I do, then I'll vamoose on out of there, and you'll be outta luck."

With a snap of the fingers beside his head Dynamo yelled out 'Ciao!' and then vanished in a flash of light, leaving Shina with a dour expression as she mourned the cruel hand Rainy Turtloid was dealt.

" _Turtloid's defenses were breeched with just one attack...Not even X or Zero would've been able to manage that on their own."_ Alia mumbled in disbelief.

"Dynamo fished out Turtloid's Nightmare Souls from the corpse...He must have collected a lot of them to power up." Shina commented right after.

" _...It should go without saying, but..."_

"I shouldn't trust what Dynamo's saying?"

" _He wants something from you. Don't go alone Shina, just give me some time to organize X and Zero and then-"_

"No way Alia! You heard what he said!" Shina put her foot down with a firm pout.

" _There's no way of knowing for sure that he's telling the truth! Don't throw your life away on a whim Shina!"_

"I'm sorry Alia, but I have to try..." Shina reached for her right eardrum with the barrel of her pistol. Preparing a bullet no smaller than a tick in the gun, she was seconds away from pulling the trigger when Alia let out a deep sigh and offered one last bit of advice.

" _...Don't forget, the Eurasia Crash Site is in the center of the continent dead east from your current location. And please...just try and make is back safely."_

"...We'll both make it back safely. Me...and Alex." Shina smiled and then pulled the trigger, her ears ringing with a shrill sound as she broke the communicator implanted within.

When the noise no longer plagued her, Shina took a couple steps towards the edge of the platform, taking care not to trample on Turtloid's body. Once she had a clear view of the sky, one thought still tethered her feet to the ground...

" _...I still...I still don't know how I'm going to save Alex. Is...killing him maybe...the only way?"_

A burning sensation started up on her back thanks to Alex's sword, and the sound of a clock ticking entered her eardrums. Shina widened her eyes and reached into her pocket to pull the Gaia Temporis out.

"No! No more of this! I've seen enough...! I don't want to-"

There was no bargaining with a stone that would not listen, and a moment later Shina was dragged through a corridor of time and space, arriving inside of a sealed up metal room. She sealed her lips and looked around, noticing right away that the temperature was as cold as a winter night. The room was decorated with a tight, thick plated metal door, a one-way glass window, and a soft, queen-sized bed.

Wrapped up in two layers of thick cotton sheets, a young boy shivered and rattled the bed, his meek voice sobbing uncontrollably. His face was drenched and the section of mattress below his head absorbed his tears until it was as moist as a sponge. The boy's eyes were red with veins thanks to how dry they were, and blood trickled out from underneath his fingernails as he dug them into the lip of his sheets.

There was little Shina could do but approach the bed, even though her mind was sending out all the warning signals not to. She reached out for the boy's head, but as her fingertips lay just a few inches away from their hair the boy stammered out in pain, "Mommy...d-d-daddy...h-h-help me..."

Shina's hand retreated to her hip and curled up into a trembling fist, "What kind of awful, AWFUL person would do this to a child...?"

"I'm...sc-scared...I...I'm...so scared...I'm...I'm...alone...P-P-Please...s-somebody...a-a-anybody..."

Shina wanted to try and reach out again, but as she did so the air started to become thinner and colder. The boy's body stopped moving, and his voice became eeriely calm.

"...H-Huh...? Who...who's there?"

Shina looked around from place to place, but there was no other presence besides hers and the boy's.

" _What's...going on here?"_

"You're...here for me?" The boy looked puzzled.

"But...where are you?"

"...Huh...? Inside my...head?" When the boy murmured that, Shina flinched back and stared straight into his now vacant pupils.

"You're...an imaginary friend?"

"...You're...real?"

"...You here to...help me?"

"...I-I do feel...better..."

"You'll...keep helping me?"

"You'll... get rid of all...the pain?"

"A-And you'll...you'll never leave my side? Promise?"

"You...you won't? T-Thanks..."

A smile crept along the boy's face, and the tiredness in his body laid him to rest. But though he looked to be in peace, Shina saw things differently. What she saw...was the birth of something terrible and benign within the mind of the young Alex Whiter.

Her body was then dragged back to the present day, her face frozen with exasperation. It took her a couple seconds to register that her legs were shaking, and she stiffened them up after an easing gulp. Then she looked at the Gaia Temporis in her right hand, placing it back into her pocket with a drawn out sigh.

" _...So all this time...Alex had a second personality born of trauma..."_ The implication of what she said, combined with everything else she knew up until this point, struck her like hot iron to the brain.

" _...O-Oh my god...W-When Alex confessed his love to me back then...he...he was serious...And I...I treated his confession like it was a joke..."_ Resting one hand across her face and squirming, she murmured out in agony, "This...this is all my fault. I'M the reason he's in this mess..."

The hand curled up into a fist, and then she began to smash it into her forehead while yelling with increasing resentment towards herself.

"Stupid! ...Stupid stupid STUPID!"

After a full minute of berating herself until her knuckles and head were sore, Shina pulled the hand away and looked into her empty palm. Though she was in pain, her mind had a bit more serenity than before, and was able to clarify a plan of attack.

"...I hafta fix this. And now...I-I think I know how to..." Tightening that held hand into a fist, Shina stared into the sky and took off, confident in what she planned to do.

"Alex...I won't you suffer another day!"

 _Next Time: The Ultimate Robot vs. the Ultimate Guard and the Ultimate Reploid_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: An Absolute Protector, Shield Sheldon**

Back at the Maverick Hunter HQ, Alia takes a moment to pull off her headset after a rough distortion of static plagued both audio receptors. Through the laptop, she watched Shina fly away from Rainy Turtloid's domain, where her visage disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"...Are we doing the right thing X?" She pondered with a quiet melancholy, twisting her body back to look at her partner.

"I don't know..." X was calm and honest in his thoughts, "But we have to trust that she can handle this on her own for now."

"If only we could keep an eye on her...But Dynamo's too perceptive, he'd shoot down any drone we'd send." Alia hovered her fingertips over the laptop keys, but then with a lingering glance on them she realized she had nothing to do at the moment. Thus, the hands retreated to atop her legs, and she turned the chair around and stood up.

"All we can do now is wait and see." As she approached X, Alia stopped an inch beside him and widened her eyes with an almost mute gasp. The lone door opened up, and Zero walked inside.

X only had to glance at her expression to be cued in to turn around, and he welcomed his friend with a slow approach and an eased comment of, "Welcome back Zero."

"X...?" Zero raised his brows and stopped at the drop of a hat, "I thought you would've been out on a mission."

"...Not right now." X expression grew tense, alerting Zero to the overall worried ambience in the room and more importantly, the fact that Shina had vanished.

Laser focusing on his comrade's eyes with a stern posture, Zero crossed his arms and asked, "What's going on here?"

It took only five minutes for X to bring Zero up-to-date on what they'd been doing, leaving the robot's first immediate reponse to be a gesture of his hand out from the armfold and an inquiry of, "So why are you still here?"

"Huh?" X perked his brows up and said, "Zero, we can't go after Dynamo, if we do Shina-"

"Forget about Dynamo, I'm positive she can handle him on her own. But if he were to receive reinforcements..."

"That's right! There's no way Gate is going to ignore all the Nightmare Souls Dynamo has acquired!" Alia blurted out all of a sudden, and after X peered over his left shoulder she synchronized with Zero's reasoning, "We have to take down the last two Nightmare Investigators before they find out what's going on."

"Exactly. If we divide their attention between the two of us X, then that'll free her up to deal with Dynamo." Zero remarked.

"It's not a bad plan, but you're both forgetting something." X stood sideways and both looked and gestured at his comrades.

"...Right, there's still High-MAX to worry about." Zero closed his eyes and lowered the head a bit.

"We haven't seen hide or hair of him since Ground Scaravich. Either Gate's got him holed up at his location, or he's already been sent out to another investigation spot ready to ambush us..." Alia deduced with dulled concern.

"If he's with the Investigators, there's a 50-50 chance of either me or X encountering him."

"I couldn't even put a dent in him the first time we fought. If only I knew how Shina managed to fend him off." X closed his eyes to think for the few seconds he was allowed before Zero interjected.

"X, I have an idea. We'll split up still, but I'll go ahead of you. If High-MAX is at my location, I'll deal with him. If he's not, then at least you won't be taken by surprise."

"Do you think you'll be able to handle him?" X pondered.

"He's just another Maverick. I'll be fine, don't worry about it."

"Well Zero, the last two Investigators should be Shield Sheldon at the laser defense facility, and Infinity Mijinion at the weapons research lab. I'll set the coordinates for whoever you want to go after." Alia said, making her way right back to the laptop in the time it took her to finish speaking.

"Set them for the laser defense facility. And X...you be careful too, ok?" Zero looked his friend in the eyes for a couple seconds until he nodded, then turned around and made his way for the door. As it slid open, Alia stopped him with a sharp, "Wait!"

Halting right underneath the frame, Zero didn't even look back as Alia turned her chair and hesitated to look at him directly, "...I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Gate sooner. You're right...I-I should've valued the trust between us a lot more than I did."

"...It's all in the past now. You can work on rebuilding that trust in the future...partner." Zero left things be there and exited the room, heading right for the teleporters with the Z-Saber swung and ignited right over his head. He landed on one of the pods and was sent off to his destination, though a feeling of unease washed over him as he did so.

Zero arrived atop a facility positioned amongst the docile clouds, the sky appearing as though it's kept in a perpetual state of night. The floor was compromised of stainless reflective panels extending towards a sleek mobile fortress surrounded by a few large gunships. The ships had no movement to them, and loomed ominously in wait.

"Alia, what can you tell me about this place?" Zero didn't even move an inch forward as he continued to look at his surroundings.

" _This facility and its workers once prided themselves on providing their top of the line defenses to the highest bidders across the globe. However, the facility was raided by a Maverick attack years ago and has been secluded off from the general public ever since."_

"Secluded...so I'm guessing the gunships aren't active now?"

" _Correct. They were a part of the facilities' defenses back then."_

"Alright, now how about intel on the Investigator?" Zero inquired as he began his cautious march towards the facility.

" _Well... you know how I said the facility was attacked by Mavericks? I was referring to the fact that one of the researchers went Maverick while under the protection of Shield Sheldon."_

"Shield Sheldon caused the research to go Maverick?"

" _No. The cause of the researcher's change had nothing to do with him. But Shield Sheldon was still blamed for the change by the Maverick Hunters, and out of shame he took his own life."_

"Hmph, and I bet the researchers you worked with tipped the Hunters off."

" _No...No not that time."_

"...Figures he'd choose this location to 'investigate' then. He's looking for redemption."

" _All the Investigators owe the world to Gate. They're just like sons to him."_

"Children shouldn't be forced to bear the weight of their father's sins." Zero paused for a moment and closed his eyes.

" _Huh, I never would've expected_ _ **you**_ _to say that,"_ After a couple seconds, Alia coughed and stammered out, _"O-Oh...right, I guess you..."_

"Time to get a move on." Zero opened his eyes and leapt off the precipice he was on, finding himself on the edge of a hundred foot gap between here and and the entrance. Crossing his arms and looking around, he knew that he didn't have the capability to make the jump even if he went at it full speed.

"Any ideas Alia?" He swallowed his pride to ask.

" _There is actually a floorway leading to the entrance, but it's invisible."_

"...Invisible?" Zero nudged his right toes along the floor until they were 'suspended' on empty air. A solid platform of relfective chrome appeared at the touch, and he put both his feet forward onto it.

" _Just take your time and you should make it across, but be careful...I imagine some of the platforms have been erased to trick you."_

"It'll be a piece of cake." Zero raised his buster and shot a foot ahead, testing to see where the platforms lied. With a cautious mind guiding his every move, he quickly made his way to the other side without slipping up even a bit.

Now with only solid ground to navigate, Zero rushed inside of the facility and was greeted by the many signs of desolation and abandonment surrounding him. The metal in the walls were wearing down, with their colors blackened and bits of rusted crammed around the edges. Pipes and wires were out of alignment with each other, and the lights fought a struggling battle just to flicker.

Only the glow of his blade kept the path forward illuminated, but at the same time forced his gaze to shift around to avoid being ambushed. But the atmosphere was quiet, too quiet, and not even a metal rat could be heard scurrying through the vents.

" _...There's just been too many areas to cover at one time. Any Reploids that came here have probably already been victimized by the virus."_

"I don't feel it's presence here. It's possible Gate's already moved on to the next stage of his plan."

" _...Lets hope not."_

After scaling a few platforms along a straightforward path, Zero was roadblocked by a thick silver door, with only a levitating reflective panel standing between him and it. He ran over to the door and attacked it with a rigorous swing of the blade, but failed to even scratch it. He tried a couple more times in different spots, hoping to exploit a weakness in the build, but alas it was still pointless.

Backing off, Zero looked higher up on the door and saw an inactive light present there. Holding his blade up to light his surroundings, he saw a loose plate on the left side of the door and walked over to it. Prying it off required just a simple one-handed tug, but to his surprise there was nothing behind it but dust and more metal.

"...Haaa..." Zero sighed and his shoulders went into a slump, "I must have missed something near the entrance."

Halfway through turning around, a flash of light shone bright in the corner of his eyes, and he looked up right as a laser fired out from a suspended pod. Leaping straight back to cling onto the wall, Zero grabbed hold of his blade and lunged straight at the pod. But even putting all his might into the thrust, the pod repelled his blow and caused him to plummet right to the ground.

"Hrmm..." Zero grabbed his blade in both hands and swung it by the hip, targeting the same spot he attacked before.

" _Wait a second Zero!"_ Alia's shrill alert halted Zero from even jumping, though he held his stance for a moment as she explained, _"Take a look at the wall."_

He turned his head to the spot he was just at, and found that there was no damage done. Standing upright and holding his sword beside in one hand, he focused back on the pod and commented, "I get it now, the facility uses lasers as keys."

Zero walked in front of the reflective panel while keeping his eyes on the pod. The lens flashed open, and a laser built up in a second. Moving just a bit to the right, Zero watched as the laser struck the panel and ended up deflected at the light atop the door. A brief click, and the door flew open.

Zero leapt through, and the lighting got a little better thanks to the presence of a faint energy core in the background. There were more laser pods to traverse, and relfective surfaces to help direct their paths. The puzzles got a little more complex, but without the threat of enemies or the virus in the vicinity Zero could take his time setting the lasers on their proper path.

" _The technology here reminds me a lot of what I saw in Izzy Glow's lab."_ Alia made a casual observation to break the quiet tone.

"Wasn't he stingy about letting his creations see the light of day?" Zero commented as he opened up the second door in his path.

" _This must've been an exception. Doesn't seem like there's any weaponry in this base, at least...as far as we've seen."_

"Doesn't seem like there's a need."

" _A facility like this needs more than puzzles to keep it safe, Zero."_ Alia said, getting a little cross in her tone.

"It's taking all my strength just to budge these panels. I doubt the average Maverick would be able to break in." Zero paused for a moment to look at his Z-Saber, then struck the nearby panel with it to shift the laser's path upward.

" _I see..."_ She murmured with a twinge of apologeticness, _"I guess that's the tragic irony here. For how much they bolstered their defenses, they were sabotaged from within..."_

"Sigma and his virus are gone. Once Gate's dealt with, we'll never have to worry about Mavericks created by viruses ever again."

" _...Tssk..."_ A hollow sigh came through the communicator, causing Zero to stand still and say, "There's no other way."

" _I know that...I guess...until now, I never really understood how hard it's been for you and X to keep fighting like this."_

"Hmph..." Zero blinked slow and then leapt up to the ledge beside the last reflective panel in the room. With one drawn-out slice he shifted it and then stepped away, watching as the laser deflected to the door resting on the floor. However, only then did he recognize that there were two doors in the room this time.

"...Doubt the basement's where I need to go." Zero faced the reflective panel and gave it a gentler slice so it'd line up properly with the back door. A whole half a minute passed by before he knew it, but there was no activity from the laser.

"What's going on here..." Zero sprinted and hopped his way back to the pod, giving it a quick strike with his bare knuckles twice before pulling back and staring it straight in the lens.

" _It couldn't have ran out of power_ _ **now**_ _, could it?"_

"...No. I get the feeling I'll have to check out the basement before I can open the other door." Thus he made his way back at double the pace and dropped down the opened passage. The room was by far the most secluded part of this entire facility, having so much darkness that it took ten seconds for Zero to see again thanks to his Z-Saber. But when he had a bearing on his location, the first thing that caught his attention was the presence of a Dr. Light capsule right in front of him.

He put the Z-Saber away and approached it, allowing the hologram's all-encompassing light to flourish through the darkness. The robot and the doctor stood face-to-face, both comfortable with the other's presence.

" _I see you've happened upon another one of my capsules, Zero."_

"It's starting to become routine at this point. So what part will this be?" Zero kept things swift and serious.

" _This shall be the body part of the Blade Armor. With this, X will only need one more part to complete it."_

"So he's already gotten all the parts for that Shadow Armor?"

" _Correct. Shina picked it up not too long ago...before she went in pursuit of Dynamo."_

"...Doctor, you've been close attention to what's been going on." Zero commented with a brow-raised glare.

" _I am doing whatever I can to help in this restrictive state."_ Dr. Light responded with a self-assured tone.

"Then you already know who's occupying this area. Tell me, is one of them High-MAX?"

" _Yes..."_ Dr. Light closed his eyes, and his tone sounded hesitant to say anything further. But even that slightest hint of weakness was enough for Zero to exploit.

"There's someone else here..." He remarked with a firm voice.

" _I told you before Zero. It is up to you to find the truth. Do not let my observations be your crutch."_

"...I guess I'll find out soon enough." Zero ruffled his shoulders a little then breathed in the dusty air.

" _Are you sure you're ready?"_ The doctor gave him a stern and solemn look.

Zero kept his mouth shut and avoided eye contact as he stepped onto the capsule. As the data flowed over his body, he opened his eyes and waited for the process to pass. Getting off right when it was over, he went back the way he came, with the doctor's hologram giving one last word of advice.

" _Tread cautiously Zero...You cannot underestimate our enemy."_

Zero paused underneath the door for a few seconds, interrupted only by the flash of light coming from above. The laser opened the door that he needed to go forward, and he reached the hallway behind it with one powerful leap from where he stood. He drew his Z-Saber and headed for the door at the end, trying to avoid making a sound as he slipped inside the room.

The floor here was composed of silver chrome hexagons surrounding the edge of a cylindrical testing site. There was a large but inactive laser cannon on the ceiling in the center of the room, and the walls were plated with durable emerald panels that wouldn't suffer the high concentration of heat that once pushed through here.

After a brief scan of the room Zero widened his eyes and silently slid up to the back of a fuel capsule just tall enough to cover his body. He peered around the edge towards the opposite end of the room, where three Reploids had gathered in front of a complex console.

One was a pink Reploid with a wide frame consisting mostly of curves, and half a metallic clam shell were attached atop each shoulder. Neither shell looked cumbersome for the Reploid either, as he paced around in front of the other two. His company was High-MAX and Isoc, both of whom Zero was seeing for the first time.

"So that's High-MAX...Doesn't look that impressive." Zero whispered.

" _Looks can be deceiving Zero."_ Alia commented, toning down her voice as well.

"I know...He's the one that gave X trouble after all." Zero pulled a little further back and tried to listen in on what the Reploids were talking about, concentrating on Isoc the most of all.

"Why did you bring High-MAX here Isoc? Does Gate not trust me to guard this facility?" A chipper adolescent voice came out of Shield Sheldon.

"Don't be a fool. With Turtloid slaughtered by that traitor you and Mijinion are our last remaining Investigators. It's for the best that you take High-MAX's assistance regardless of your silly pride." Isoc turned for the console and tapped away at it with one hand. Windows shut down on the screen as a download began at 1% and increased every couple of seconds.

"...Isoc, he's up to something." Zero commented.

" _I can't get a look at what he's doing. Think you can get closer?"_

"Negative, there's no more canisters." Zero poked his head out a little more and looked over at High-MAX next. The Reploid was silent as he exchanged glances with Shield Sheldon.

"I'm not so sure about this. I heard Mr. 'Ultimate Reploid' here got roughed up by some blonde chick." Sheldon sneered, holding not an ounce of respect towards the beefy Reploid.

"The outsider's wound was a fluke. My perfection has been completed, and I shall never suffer harm again." High-MAX carried a haughty air to him that left Sheldon's face in a dejected slump.

"Could you _try_ and take this seriously?" He then turned right towards Isoc and complained, "This Reploid's too arrogant and green to be on guard duty. Gate's life has too much value to entrust it to this waste of junk."

"Arrogant and green hmmm? The same could have been said for you not too long ago, Shield Sheldon..." Isoc turned around and tugged on the right of his mustache, "Or perhaps I should use a more present tense, seeing how you've failed to notice a certain red intruder..."

The scientist grimaced and slid his fingers off the mustache, snapping his fingers a couple times beside the face while yelling, "There's no use hiding Zero! Your choice of concealment is as predictable as it is insulting!"

"Darn, I've been detected!" Zero remarked, keeping his cool in spite of how surprised he was.

" _Can you disengage? If you get far away from High-MAX, I can-"_

"No dice Alia. Just send X after the last Investigator..." Zero ignited the Z-Saber and thrust free palm against the back of the capsule, "I'll handle these three on my own!"

He then pushed the capsule with all his strength to throw it at his enemies, pooling energy into the blade to slice a crescent wave after it right away.

"Doc, watch out!" Sheldon leapt in the capsule's path and tucked his body into both shells, which began to glow with a pristine orange energy. The capsule blew up when the projectile struck it, consuming Sheldon's body in a deafening blast of fire. Isoc's cape blew around wildly, while High-MAX remained as stoic as ever. As the blast faded out, the scientist tucked his hands back and smirked, watching as Zero charged through the smoke with the Z-Saber positioned to stab at his chest.

An inch away from connecting the blade, Zero was forced to bear the brunt of High-MAX's fist to his face. The Reploid came out swinging in a forceful curve, his knuckles being followed up by the rim of his biceps before Zero was sent flying through an arc in the air. The robot recovered and made a safe landing, sliding on the ground until he was now twenty feet away from his targets. Shield Sheldon emerged from the smoke unscathed, and warped himself on over in front of High-MAX with an overdramatic opening of his shell.

Isoc kept his distance and gestured the right hand beside his face, taunting the scowling Zero with rigorous pleasure, "You missed your chance to end me, Zero! A pity! That hesitation shall cost you dearly!"

Zero swung his blade out and stood with unwavering defiance of his foes as he roared out, "Don't get cocky! It'll take more than a couple brutes to keep me from getting to you! You're going to answer for your crimes whether here and now!"

" **I** am going to answer for my crimes? That's rich...coming from the progenitor of the Maverick Virus!" Isoc volleyed back Zero's boast with an unflincing demeanor that bordered on obscene arrogance. Then, with a couple snaps of the fingers, Isoc declared, "Do whatever it takes to stop him, as long as you don't destroy him! I want him captured...alive!"

"Command received..." High-MAX released a cloud of steam from his body, "Zero...I shall surpass you as well."

"Fine, fine! I guess I have no choice but to fight alongside you! Just don't screw this up High-MAX, Gate's counting on us!" Shield Sheldon spread his shells like wings and threw his arms out, causing them to detach and be flung at Zero.

The robot leapt in anticipation of the shell flying lowerer to the floor, landing atop and grounding it with a ear-grating noise. He then grabbed onto his blade and slashed it forward to repel the other shell, though his arms recoiled overhead upon making contact.

Sheldon tugged his hands back left and then right, warping the shells back onto his shoulders so he could tuck into them. While High-MAX kept Zero occupied with a bombardment of energy balls, Sheldon began to spin his shell around with it pointed further along the counterclockwise path the Hunter was running. Once fully charged, he launched himself forward like a torpedo and crossed over the gap in a second.

Zero glanced right and flipped back in the nick of time, but after slamming against the wall Sheldon rebounded right after and took him by surprise. The Hunter was thrown in a downward spiral towards the chasm, his left hand latching onto the edge of the platform with a grip almost as slick as oil. He made haste to throw his body back up, then turned around as Sheldon came charging at him from above.

Zero hopped back and sliced two crescent waves at the clam in quick succession, sending him teetering off balance near the edge. Zero charged forth in an attempt to topple him over, but then with a sonicboom in his wake High-MAX jettisonned over and hammered the Hunter in the chest with a large energy ball.

With his body pounded back against the wall like he was rammed by a bulldozer, it took Zero a couple seconds to pull himself free and stare down his unrelenting foe, who sent wave after wave of energy spheres swarming his way. Zero rapidly swung his blade out with one hand and cut down each and every projectile, his body consumed by a vicious storm of slices as he charged forward with vigorous momentum.

Once underneath High-MAX he leapt up with a slicing uppercut, only for it to be deflected by Sheldon throwing one of his shells out like a boomerrang. Zero dropped down in an instant, ducking underneath the kick of High-MAX's left leg and using his buster to get a couple shots in on the vulnerable clam. The impacts distracted them enough for Zero to close in and perform three swift and broad cuts across the body. But true to his name, the clam's defenses were strong, and Zero could not penetrate deep enough in the time alotted.

Sheldon grabbed onto his returning shield and used it like a gullotine, bringing it down straight towards Zero's head. The Hunter swiftly used his sword to hold it back while he scanned his surroundings to look for an escape route. Eyeing another, small fuel canister to the right, Zero stopped holding back and sprinted straight for it, glancing back only to know when to turn around and slice down High-MAX's flurry of projectiles.

Once inches away from the canister Zero scooped it up underneath his right arm and leapt back to the wall, sticking to it for just a few seconds to lure out his enemy's attacks. High-MAX threw both his hands up and began charging his 'Death Ball', while Sheldon tossed both his shields out.

"Right on cue..." Zero sprung off the wall and let the canister loose into one of the shells, then immediately leapt towards High-MAX, getting right in his face to flash a smirk. The Reploid tried to clap his hands together to swat him like the pesky fly he was being, but Zero was able to drop right to the ground and dash behind him before the bottom of his hands could graze his helmet.

High-MAX turned around and swiped his right hand out to send out a volley of projectiles. Zero cleaved through them in one slice, then spun his blade behind him and held a hand up, waving his fingers towards him. High-MAX raised both hands up out before the chest and remarked, "It's futile. Your immature taunts mean nothing to me, Zero."

" _That's right...Stay distracted..."_ As High-MAX focused all his efforts onto creating a 'Death Ball', Zero glanced over and saw Sheldon reattach both shells to his shoulders. He turned around, and the sudden movement caused the fuel canister to wobble it's way close to the edge of the left shell.

Zero swung his left hand up and fired a swift buster shot at it, giving Sheldon no time to react beyond a frightened gasp as the explosion blew him away. After that there just a modicrum amount of time for Zero to face the so-called Ultimate Reploid and attack the incoming 'Death Ball' with a two-handed slice. His feet were dragged back at a ludicrous pace as sparks went flying in all directions behind him. However, once both heels were pressed against the wall Zero managed to swivel his blade at a downward slant and force the sphere to fly up into the ceiling, decimating a hefty chunk of it.

Shield Sheldon pried himself off the ground, his right shell having lost a portion of the bottom lip and his arm struggling to move. With a pained wince of his eyes he stared at the valiant robot and stammered, "W-Why is he so strong?!"

Isoc rubbed his chin with a smirk and commented, "Speed, power, analytical capabilties...Indeed! Zero is the perfect robot! A true...God of Destruction!"

He swung his arms out and boasted at the top of his lungs, causing the fighters to pause for a brief moment. As High-MAX turned his head, his brows slanted a centimeter down and then he channeled a large energy ball into his right fist. Right as Zero looked back at him, he lobbed it out with all his force put into it.

The Hunter vaulted over the attack and had his back grazed by the blast, then he grabbed the handle of his blade in both hands and charged straight towards High-MAX. The Ultimate Reploid rose up and pointed his hands down, assaulting Zero with a rain of projectiles. Zero back up with a short hop and twirled his blade around in circles to deflect the attacks, but a couple slipped on by and pelted his legs to the point of weakening his stance.

Zero hopped back further and swung the blade back to send another crescent wave at High-MAX. The Reploid levitated in place and held his hands up, but Shield Sheldon flew right in front of him and used his shell to block the attack.

"Don't worry! I got-"

"Move aside." With a swift and blunt retort to his ally's enthusiasm, High-MAX wrenched his right hand around the rim of Sheldon's right shell and shoved him aside, thrusting that very same hand forward to send a smaller 'Death Ball' towards Zero.

Zero attacked the sphere right in the center with his blade to reflect it back at High-MAX, who just let it strike his chest without any concern towards being damaged. The Hunter followed up on this by firing a couple buster shots at the head, but only succeeded in making the Reploid wince like he was being buzzed by an insect.

"Futile...I am the Ultimate Reploid." High-MAX spread his arms wide and began to create a large 'Death Ball'.

"You're nothing but a hunk of metal." Zero responded as he got into a hunched down stance and focused on his opponent's attack, taking only a moment to glance left and check up on Shield Sheldon's position.

The clam propped himself back up and yelled out angrily, "What's the big idea?! We're supposed to be-"

"You are an obstacle. Remove yourself." High-MAX remarked while firing his attack off at Zero, who cut it down in half with all his might.

"Obsta...?! Ghhhhhhh...! No no NO! Stop worrying about your pride and focus on protecting our master!" Sheldon cried out in vain, as High-MAX didn't even give him a glance. Then, stamping his feet on the ground a couple times, he tucked himself into a shell and flew straight into Zero's body.

The Hunter was thrown to the ground, taken completely by surprise by the assault. After recovering from the dizzying strike, Zero rolled right to avoid being smashed to bits by Sheldon hammering his shells down. Then he got on his feet and drew his Z-Saber back, leaping three feet away as Sheldon exclaimed, "I don't need High-MAX to take you down! I'll beat you and earn Gate's favor!"

"You're playing for the wrong team kid. But it's too late to change sides now." In the time it took for him to speak, Zero charged his Z-Saber full of energy and sliced it out. Sheldon swung his arms out and his shells converted into a four-directional energy shield. When Zero's attack struck the frontal shield it was absorbed and reflected back in the form of a swift firing energy bolt.

The Hunter became exasperated as the bolt struck his chest and sent him flying all the way to the other side of the room, smashing right into the wall hard enough to form a crater. It took him a second to dislodge, but he landed on his knees.

" _What the hell was that...?"_ Zero looked up, watching as Sheldon rammed at him once again. One quick roll evaded the attack, and as he stood up the Hunter tried to deduce what happened. High-MAX sent some projectiles his way to break his concentration, and Zero leapt away a couple times while spinning his sword to deflect any shots that strayed his way.

"Watch what you're doing you fools! I said to capture him ALIVE!" Isoc yelled out with growling frustration.

After a couple short hops, Zero registered what had happened to him and thought, _"A reflector shield...Of course!"_

Planting both feet on the ground, the Hunter darted straight for Shield Sheldon with his blade swung down at the left of his hip. Sheldon threw his left then right hand out to try and toss his shields, but as the left one flew off Zero approached him from the right and swung his blade straight up. In a flash the clam's weakened arm was cleaved off, and the shield flew skyward.

"AAAAAAHHH!" Sheldon's scream was shrill and glass-shattering, with him then twisting his head towards Zero and saying, "I won't fail! I wo-"

The edge of the Z-Saber penetrated the right of Sheldon's nape and began to cut through it as though it were as delicate as water. Zero was leaving nothing to chance, he was pushing his body to it's absolute limits to ensure he'd succeed. In silence, Sheldon's head was cleaved right off the shoulders, with Zero not even leaving him a parting comment.

A few projectiles pelted his back and caused him pain, but he turned right around and leapt up to grab the shell shield to protect himself from High-MAX's continuous barrage. Holding on with his feet bearing the brunt of the assault, Zero was impressed by how well the shield held up under pressure.

" _Don't have much time, have to figure this out fast!"_ Zero connected with the shield in a couple of seconds and tried to analyze it's inner workings while Isoc watched on with a smile brightening his face.

"Fascinating..." He murmured, turning his attention towards High-MAX as the Reploid charged a 'Death Ball'.

"Cowering behind a weakling's defenses will not save you, Zero..." High-MAX launched the sphere straight forth with a thrust of the hands, but with a smirk Zero fought back with a sharp retort, "You shouldn't have underestimated your comrade's power!"

In perfect sync with the shield, Zero caused it to transform into an energy field like how Sheldon utilized it. The 'Death Ball' was absorbed into the field and reflected back at High-MAX in the form of a massive energy bolt. Struck dead center in the chest, High-MAX was dropped to the ground with sparks and steam shooting from the creases in his frame.

"D-Damaged...again...? Impossible...I am supposed to be...perfect...!" High-MAX's voice showed the beginning signs of frustration as he tried with all his might to stand up.

Zero flung the shield back and swung his blade out to the right as he walked towards the Reploid, "You may call yourself the Ultimate Reploid..."

He raised his blade up high and charged it as full of energy as it would take, causing it the blade to expand and tower towards the ceiling. As the ground trembled and High-MAX's eyes widened, Zero grit his teeth tight and roared, "But you're nothing more than another Maverick!"

With a thunderous cry of 'ITTOURYOUDAN', Zero unleashed a massive cresent wave of energy upon his target. High-MAX froze up, letting out a harrowing scream as the energy consumed his body, assaulting him with the equivalent sharpness of a thousand knives. After five seconds has passed, everything went silent. High-MAX was left with a clean cleave down the center of his body. He hadn't been penetrated through all the way, but his inner workings were so torn apart that there was no way he'd be able to move on his own.

And as a matter of fact, gravity offered a helping hand in dragging his hefty frame right to the ground.

Zero took a couple steps forward and made certain his foe had been vanquished. Close examination of High-MAX's body would have to wait, as a slow and methodical clap drew his attention left towards the approaching Isoc.

"Hehehehe...HAHAHAHA!" Isoc was overcome with immense glee, the smile across his face more white and shiny than the rest of his body.

"What's so funny?" Zero thrust his blade up at the scientist, who still walked towards him without a hint of fear in his expression.

"How could I not be amused Zero? X struggled so hard just to try and put a dent in High-MAX, but you not only defeated him but one of our Investigators at the same time! It...it's just so hard to contain myself after witnessing your magnificence first-hand!" Isoc swung his arms out and eyes were as wide as discs.

"Shut up..." Zero growled and took a couple steps closer, aiming the full intensity of his blade at Isoc's neck, "I'm taking you in for questioning! You've got a lot to answer for..."

"Well, since you're so intent on us spending time together, why don't we start now?" Isoc raised his brows and tucked his hands back, "Aren't you curious to know _why_ I've chosen to work for Gate? Or perhaps you'd like to know my history? Or maybe...you're more interested in my _name_."

"...Save it, you're not getting questioned until we get back to HQ." Zero closed his eyes and groaned a little.

"Hehehehe...But of course. I guess you wouldn't be interested in my name...Cause you already know who I am, Zero..."

"...You're Isoc." Zero responded with a persisting sigh.

"No Zero. Say my **real** name. Come on now...we both know you pieced the truth together long ago. So humor me...and say it."

"Will you be quiet already?" Zero reached for his helmet and remarked, "Alia, what's taking so long?"

" _The interference from High-MAX is taking some time to disappear. Just give me another minute and I'll be able to bring you both back."_

"A whole minute? See Zero? You don't have an excuse not to say my name...it'll be over in a nanosecond." Isoc tilted his head down and smirked. Zero now resorted to complete and utter silence, but his glare turned cross. Humored, Isoc leaned his head back and raised his right brow.

"Are you afraid Zero? Afraid of what you truly are...? I can give you all the answers you desire...all you have to do is say my name," Isoc's grin grew wide and thin, "No, don't just say my name. Scream it...scream it to the world!"

He whipped his right hand out and clasped the fingers together into a fist, "Let all the worthless humans and Reploids know just **who** has crawled his way out of HELL to claim his rightful place...as ruler of the entire world!"

Zero's knuckles tightened as he gripped the Z-Saber, his gaze shifting over to the console as the progress bar was now close to 100%. Looking back at Isoc, the scientist tucked his hand back and yelled, "SAY IT!"

"That's..." Zero bit his teeth down and leapt straight at Isoc with blade drawn back. Right as the progress bar filled up, he swung his blade down and exclaimed, "ENOUGH!"

Isoc threw his left hand up without looking the Hunter's way. In a millisecond, Zero was frozen in suspended animation within a containment field made of pure laser energy.

"Just as I predicted. I know your programming inside and out Zero...did you honestly think I wouldn't have been able to come up with a means of restraint?" Isoc's lips twisted into a cocky smirk, and he drew his hand back into the pockets of his lab coat. Zero could only focus on him with a persisting scowl until the scientist had walked around him and gone over to High-MAX.

"As fun as it would be to take you back, I know I don't have the time to spare now...Lest I deal with the wrath of that antiquated piece of junk, X." Isoc laid his hand down on High-MAX's back and glanced over his right shoulder as sparks of light surrounded the two of them.

"But if you still have any interest Zero, then come and find me once you've finished your time out. I'll be more than eager to answer any questions you may have...Ehehehe!" In a flash of light, the two were gone, and Zero could do nothing but growl with fury until it swiftly tired him out.

" _That technology...It's built to function around your specific hardware. I'm...sorry to say Zero, but there's nothing I can do to free you. But the good news is, it will be deactivated within an hour."_

With little else to do but reflect on his own thoughts, Zero closed his eyes and hoped that X would be able to finish the Investigators off, while around him the entire world began to be shaken by a terrible, terrible tremor...

 _Next Time: Selfishness_


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:**

My apologies, somehow all the quotation marks in the second half of the chapter got erased during the transfer. It's fix up now.

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Last Dance**

Shina glided through miles and miles of sky as fast as she could. Her eyes were assaulted by the poison looming in the planet's lower '-spheres', but none of it was strong enough to slow her pace or make her wince thanks to her aura. She kept her eyes down at all times, having no need to fear running into aircraft at the time. Though her destination was a barren wasteland, all she had to look for was the wreckage of Eurasia to know when to descend.

If her body was still organic, her heart would be pounding like mad, as though wanting to break free. It wasn't that she was heading to a confrontation with Dynamo that left her this nervous. No, that was just one factor of many. Having to deal with Alex's current condition, getting the last artifact piece, seeing an end to this long, tiresome journey...She was both eager and evasive towards this conclusion.

So tumultuous were her thoughts that any other noise inside her head and in her surroundings was simply drowned out. Taking as deep a breath as she could while becoming a little light-headed, Shina began to dive down a little as the North American wastelands came into view. Closing her eyes to try and pick out Dynamo's aura from everything else, she was dismayed by how there were few others auras littering the lands she crossed over. Only the faint presence of the humans hiding underground stuck out amongst the sublime sea of dark perception.

After a few minutes of flying with her eyes shut, one aura stuck out like a pin in the proverbial haystack, and with a thrusting open of her eyelids Shina saw that she had arrived at her destination. With a slow, slanted dive towards the Reploid responsible for the grief prevalent in the current world, Shina summoned her pistols and whipped them forward the moment she landed on the ground. Both sights were locked onto Dynamo's back as he stood all by his lonesome, gazing up at the murky violet skies.

"The world may be screwed up right now, but if this isn't a once-in-a-lifetime kinda view then I don't know what is..." Dynamo sparked up the conversation with nonchalance the moment her heard Shina's feet touchdown, proceeding to then twist his head back and look at her with a pleasant smile.

Wretching at the sight of his amusement, Shina pulled her head back nice and slow and crossed her arms with one finger in the midst of pulling the pistol's triggers

"Don't you have ANY guilt for what you've done?" She inquired with a firm indignation.

"Guilt? Yeah, I guess it sucks that I threw all my chips into Sigma's basket and came out with squat, but-" A shot rang out and chipped off part of Dynamo's shades, but his only reaction was to crease his lips together and let out a dry pop.

"You know EXACTLY what I mean!" Shina raised her voice with resounding impatience towards his tomfoolery.

"Haaaaa, just as hot-headed as ever I see..." Dynamo sighed to himself with a shake of the head and a sharp turn around of his body. He then flicked a pointer finger out towards her from beside his hip and said, "I really don't think you get what kind of person I am."

"You're a murderer."

"I prefer the term 'free man', actually," Dynamo smirked, "I've always been the kind of guy who rides on the wind without much of a care in the world. As long as I do things my way and mine alone, then I couldn't give much of a rat's ass about anything else."

The blunt honesty with which Dynamo spoke with was as surprising as it was callous, yet the Reploid seemed to have no clue what it meant to be the latter. He just continued to smile and shrug his shoulders, his continued presence grating down on Shina's already weary nerves.

"So frankly, I don't take too kindly to you mocking my creed. I guess I should just be on my merry way...and take this info-"

"Wait! No!" Shina's anger was thrown out the window and replaced with sheer panic, and after dispelling one of her guns she waved the free hand out with a begging unease on her face.

"The little birdie sings a different tune when the worm's dangling before her face, doesn't she?" Dynamo remarked with a smirk. Then, holding his hands against the hips, he looked straight at her and said, "I need to get a move on, so lemme just get straight to the point."

"Your attempts to find that boyfriend of yours? Amateur at best."

Shina stayed quiet for now, even as Dynamo spent every waking moment mocking her with not just his tone, but his lofty demeanor as well.

"You've been trying to play hide-and-seek with him, but in reality you should've gone fishing from the very start," As Shina's brows raised Dynamo pressed his chin against his chest and sighed, "It's not my style, but I guess I can spell it out in detail this one time..."

"I've never been narcassist, but when I saw that boy for the first time it was pretty eerie how it felt like I was looking at a mirror. See, a kid like that? He only values two things...Freedom, and power."

"That's part of why I partnered up with Sigma. If he'd been allowed to create his new age of Reploids, I'd have been looking at a lot of power coming my way...And more power equals more freedom, ergo, it was the perfect deal for someone like me."

"Buuuut I guess Sigma just bit off more than he could chew trying to deal with both X and Zero," Dynamo shook his head and brushed a hand out beside it with a smile, "Course...that left me with jack squat to work with for a while after. At least...until good ol' Gate came up with his Nightmare Virus!"

Dynamo's aura began to flare up with the hollow sensation similar to the darkest of voids, and in turn his power increased to dramatic heights that he didn't have access to before. Shina looked on with only a quiet gasp of shock leaving her mouth, while Dynamo proceeded to grin and remark, "I gotta hand it to that guy, he really does live up to his reputation of being the smartest Reploid. All you have to do is remain fearless and these Nightmare Souls will grant you access to an unimaginable reservoir of power!"

"Where...where did you get all these Nightmare Souls?" Shina shook with disbelief, for the fear coming from Dynamo is overwhelming.

"I have you Hunters to thank really. Once you sent the Investigators packing back to their graves all I had to do was swoop in and claim my reward. But this? This isn't enough to get what I REALLY want."

Shina gulped and tried to steady herself as she looked him in the eyes, "You want to defeat X and Zero...don't you?"

"Of course! How else can I prove that I'm the strongest and freest Reploid in the whole wide world?" Dynamo shouted with pride.

"But what does any of this have to do with Alex?!" Shina exclaimed.

"Oh, it has _everything_ to do with him. Do you seriously think I'm the only one who's been taking advantage of this phenomenon? I've been trailing his path of carnage for a bit now and let me tell ya...it ain't a pretty one. He's been devouring Reploids left and right, no doubt trying to get as many Nightmare Souls as physically possible."

"No..." Shina threw her guns up at Dynamo and bit her teeth in rage, "No you're lying! We would've known!"

"What can I say? That brat's real good at hiding. But that all ends here," Dynamo reached right for his sword and spun it out beside him, "Cause I'm going to use you to lure him out!"

"H-Huh?" Shina had little time to think before Dynamo charged at her with blade swung in an arc. She ducked back and was nicked on the underside of her nose, her body's instincts going on autopilot as she flipped back and swung her legs up towards Dynamo's face. He hopped out of the way and exchanged the hand the blade was held in, twirling it around in preparation for Shina's counterattack, which came out in the form of continuous fire from her pistols.

Her pointer fingers became enflared from how fast she was pulling the triggers, but with one arm slacking against his hip Dynamo kept deflecting them all with his blade. Shina pressed her guns together into a rocket launcher and fired, the explosion wrenching Dynamo's arm back and causing his feet to retreat a couple steps.

Shina then flipped over him and twirled upside-down, assailing his head with a rain of bullets from SMGs. Once she landed she spun around with her right leg sweeping out and aimed the barrel of those weapons at his back. After rubbing his head a little he turned around and swiped his blade at the ground to send energy flying straight at her in a cascading wave.

Using a gunboot summoned to her right leg, Shina broke the energy apart with a single kick, using the recoil to put her foot down in a second. Dynamo then came in swinging his blade down in both hands, which Shina blocked by crossing her guns before the face. The barrels of her weapons cracked under pressure, and her body curved back until Dynamo landed back on the ground.

"What the heck are you doing?!" She yelled out, her voice a mix of frustration and confusion.

"That kid's not going to come out unless he can sense a meaty target to consume! And it just so happens that the most sure-fire way of unleashing enough of that power it to fight...YOU!" Dynamo shattered Shina's defenses with just a little more pressure, causing her to stagger back as shards of aura became dust upon the ground.

Spinning his sword around his body a few times just to be a show-off, Dynamo ended by laying the bottom blade along his back and pointing the rest of it out towards Shina, "So if you could just be cooperative for a little bit that'd be _lovely_."

She hung her head and took in steady breaths for a few seconds to try and find clarity, _"Luring Alex...out? …I-If that's what I hafta to do then..."_

Swinging her head up with a stare that pierced right through Dynamo's bravado and made him shiver a little, Shina whipped out a fresh pair of guns and exclaimed, "Fine by me! This'll be payback for Eurasia!"

She ran forward with guns ablazing, with Dynamo swing his sword out to deflect all the shots. But then Shina slid down, her legs just an inch thin enough to pass under his blade, and threw the Reploid off-balance with a kick. Then she aimed her guns up and kept firing, penetrating Dynamo's aura.

He responded by shutting off one blade and using it as support for his palm as the other blade was stabbed into the ground a couple inches from Shina's face, which caused her eyes to shrink for a second. Dynamo spun 180 degrees and plucked his blade from the ground as gravity brought him down.

Rolling right, Shina got up and flipped back to evade Dynamo's swings, landing only after he stopped on the fifth attempt. She then converted her weapons into crossbows and set the piercing arrows loose upon the chest of the Reploid's hide, managing to slip right past his blades to penetrate only the heads into him. With a quiet grunt Dynamo charged forth and split his weapon down the middle, wielding one blade in each hand.

His attacks became quicker and harder to predict, forcing Shina to cover the front of her body whole just to keep up. But he didn't fight with speed alone. An incredible strength was being channeled through each strike, and though Shina tried to back off Dynamo was able to send cracks throughout her aura with the couple of attacks he managed to hit.

Dynamo then attempted a decisive strike by swinging both his swords, at which point Shina widened her eyes and then hopped right in place. Pulling her legs up, she waited for the back of his hands to glide under her heels, then stamped them both into the dirt with all her might. The rest of Dynamo went down too, putting him eye-to-eye with Shina before she sprung up and smashed her fist into his chin to send him flying.

Though dazed for a moment, Dynamo spun around and landed on his feet, where he snapped his blades together and twisted them into alignment. Pausing to let out an impressed whistle, Dynamo then proceeded to wave his right fingers towards himself and remark, "You're a tougher nut to crack than I anticipated! But that just means I made the right call!"

Shina cocked her guns forward, but then found her body stiffening up as her metallic skin was riddled with a sensation similar to goosebumps. Her extended arms trembled and lowered, while her shrunken irises gazed skyward. Then, as the surface was rocked by a terrifying tremor, Shina muttered one, forboding word, "T-That's..."

"Huh?" Dynamo cocked his head to the side and then twisted his body back to look up. Speeding through the blackening clouds was a shadow that could blot the sun, and it was approaching the ground with a sharp, unstoppable descent.

"This power...I-It's...Like nothing I've ever felt before." Shina felt her chest hollowing out, and it became difficult to breath. The atmosphere grew tense, strangling in fact, and it was a sensation that would only grow worse as the shadow grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger...

"I knew this would work! Finally, time to take what's rightfully..." Dynamo looked up with open arms and a smile as wide as his face. But as a shadow eclipsed his body in a thick, putrid darkness, his body grew limp, and all the confidence he had turned to shock. Then, with only a second before his target's landing, Dynamo let out a simple, quiet, "Oh..."

After a thunderous crash that rippled through the ground and heaved up stone and dust for miles around, Dynamo was swallowed up inside of a grimy maw. It's teeth began to chomp down nice and slow, each bite devolving the Reploid into little more than a pile of scrap that rattled around inside the black void that was it's mouth.

Shina turned her head away and closed her eyes shut, but that only led to the sounds grating worse in her head. Dynamo didn't deserve to die like this. The mistreatment of his body, even after he had long been deprived of his sentience, was a fate worse than being left to rot in a junkyard. And the consumption...it just wouldn't stop. There had to have been only bolts left, but still it chewed. Then a squishy, slimy sound replaced it as _something_ lapped up the minuscule remains and dragged it into the void.

Only then did Shina have the courage to pull her head back and try to take a peek at what had appeared. As the dust parted, her eyes widened and stopped blinking, and her head kept leaning back all on it's she was looking at wasn't organic, or metallic, or anything in-between. It was slimy, bubbly, a grotesque, greyish mass of viral matter in living, breathing form. There were no eyes to speak of in the front, for only a massive, cavernous mouth took up that space. Matter oozed out of the sides of the mouth and touched the ground, pretending to resemble human hands.

The rest of the creature's body was shaped like a slug, the surface of it's matter riddled with thick, bulbous boils and broken up slag. Buried within the body were various objects, like hoses, drills, a limb made of wood and moss, a chunk of a generator, a wolf's mask, a dragon's scale, and a crown of ice. Inside of the creature's maw, Shina could have sworn that she saw the hollow shades of seven figures squirming within.

" _W-What is this thing...? It's so awful and..."_ Shina cuddled her arms up against her chest and wrapped her hands around the shoulders, staggering a couple steps back as fog emerged from her breath, _"C-c-cold..."_

Biting her teeth down, she noticed her knees were pressed together for only a second and then tried to pull them apart. As she did, the creature slowly began to stir, the roof of it's mouth closing down to form a smile out of sharp, fanged teeth compromised of many different metals. Just the mere act of shutting it's mouth moved the very winds to it's whims, overcoming Shina's body with a putrid, frosty gale. She closed her eyes and grimaced, while the lump of mass above the mouth began to squirm, parting into two narrow, hollow eyes.

Looking up into the monster's face once more, she found her gaze locked into their eyes. Her happiness was being drained little by little, and every breath became a struggle. It's body was overflowing with power that leaked out through boiling pores like magma, and that same power came with a sensation of familiarity to it that truly left her frightened.

 _"Alex...this is...Alex's power..."_ With a hard gulp, she took another couple steps back and twisted her feet into the ground. The monster kept staring at her, blotting out the view of the sky with it's eerie, smiling form. There was no putting any distance between the two, for the creature wiggled forward in pace with her movements.

Finally, the fear made something in Shina's mind snap, and she tensed her fists against her hips and started off with a breathless gasp of "W-What are you... before screaming at the top of her lungs, "And what have you done to Alex?!"

 _"Don't you recognize us...Shina Aurora...?"_ A voice that was eight different ones rolled into a unified echo spoke out, the most vocal of the ones belonging certainly to the boy she knew. As Shina froze up and hit a crack in the ground with her heels, the creature spread it's molded fingers out, the sounds they made akin to a person wading through a murky swamp.

 _"We_ _ **are**_ _...Alex..."_

"No...no that's impossible!" Her irises shrunk to the size of dimes as she screamed in defiance of what she perceived. With little energy to her movements, she threw her arms and leaned her body forward, "The artifact piece has never done this to anyone it's touched before! Y-You're just trying to trick me!"

 _"Again you look at us with fear and disgust...Why should we have ever expected anything different from you...?"_ The monster's mouth then slumped, becoming a gaudy parody of what a frown should be.

 _"But you are right...It's not the power of the artifact that did this...Through our consumption of the Sigma and Nightmare Virus, our body slowly transformed into this beautiful form you see before you now."_

"So...you really were the one the Investigators were worried about." Shina couldn't deny the facts now, and because of that there was an even greater hesitation to dig more of the truth up than there was before.

Her lips stayed sealed tight, the bottom one trembling until she swallowed a nervous gulp of air and whispered out, "H-How many Reploids...have you destroyed?"

 _"Counting that useless heap of hot air just now? Over five hundred..."_ The creature showed the inverse amount of hesitation, and began to grind it's teeth together while licking a tongue of slimy algae against the back of them.

Shina's fists tightened by the hips, her body shaking from head-to-toe as she growled, "Why...? What did those Reploids ever do to you?"

 _"We did the world a favor...They were bound to become traitors to their kind one day anyways."_

"No...No that's not fair!" Shina stared the monster down and swung her right arm out screaming, "They didn't do anything!"

 _"Why take the chance? They have the capacity to betray...the capacity to harm..."_

"I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you! Let Alex GO!"

 _"...Hrrrm...Fine, since you asked sooooo nicely..."_ With condescending praise, the monster nestled against the ground and pushed the very tip of it's head up, causing an uneven bulge to form dead in the center. The bulge popped right open like a puss filled boil, spraying a mist of slime into the air and revealing that a comparatively small body compromised of human flesh had hid underneath.

Half-naked with both arms stitched to the skin and his head hung in exhaustion was Alex Whiter. The monster gave the boy a couple rough, head-jerking shakes, but only garnered a moan or two. Shina widened her eyes and cupped both hands partway around the mouth, screaming to the point of driving her voice hoarse, "ALEX! WAKE UP! ALEX! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! PLEASE, ANSWER ME!"

The right side of Alex's mouth twitched while his brows grimaced, followed by his eyelids beginning to part, the gap between them covered in a sticky, clear ooze. The monster rattled his body a little more with an effortless nudge, bellowing with a laughter that echoed to the skies above.

 _"Look at that...the_ _ **bitch**_ _is pretending she cares about us..."_ From humored to malicious, the monster slid between the two emotions as naturally as a human would, but Shina was not the least bit fooled.

"Go to hell you dirty! Rotten! PARASITE!" She yelled while throwing her fists straight down.

 _"I am NOT a parasite you STUPID-"_ Caught in the middle of his frightening outburst, the monster retracted back a little and chuckled for a few seconds. Then he grinned, staring deep into Shina's soul with his eyes as he tried to instill fear through a calmer voice, _"Y_ _ou don't understand at all...the pain he has endured...And throughout it all...I have been the only one to bring him comfort."_

"You're wrong! All you've done is prey on his suffering!"

 _"I despise your ignorance, woman...Without_ _ **my**_ _existence, Alex Whiter's little heart would've collapsed under the strain of trauma. So I'd say I'm more akin to a symbiote than a parasite. A beneficiary, not a detriment..."_

Shina looked up at Alex's face. The color was flushed from his skin, his eyes were drooping, and his body didn't budge an inch. Curling her lips into a bitter pout, she looked back at the monster and exclaimed, "He's suffering right now, and it's all because of you!"

 _"No it's NOT!"_ The monster slammed his right 'hand' against the ground and rocked Shina off her balance temporarily, _"Y_ _ou humans...and your selfishness and_ _ **LIES**_ _...are to all to blame for our suffering!"_

 _"All he's ever wanted was to find someone he could love and trust with all his heart...But the pain he endured stunted his social development, and kept causing him to push away those around him...Worst of all, he felt inadequate, so even though he yearned for love, deep down he_ _ **knew**_ _that he did not deserve it..."_ The monster's gaze went from creeping upward to shifting right back down at Shina, now mortified with disgust.

 _"That is...until he met_ _ **YOU**_ _...An absolutely_ _ **revolting**_ _dreck of a person disguising themselves in human flesh that...for some reason...managed to ensnare his heart in your little web of deceit. Every waking second that he stood around you...his heart was an inferno of passion...He believed that you were his guiding light out of the darkness...No matter how much I urged him to reconsider he would still refuse to listen..."_

The monster leaned forth until it's jaw was dredging up chunks of the ground. Then with a narrowing of it's mouth it hovered both eyes into a mellow, reddish glare aimed right at her face, _"H_ _e slayed a GOD to avenge you...He tore through the boundaries of the heavens to revive you...He broke through time and SPACE to find you again...And worst of all...he found the courage to overcome his own self-doubt in order to confess to you...And what was his reward?"_

Shina's face quivered for a few seconds, the past echoing in her mind loud enough to cause her head to droop and all but the frown she had to recede into the shadows.

 _"You played his confession off like a_ _ **joke**_ _...you looked at us like we deserved to be chained up in an ASYLUM...You took our fragile heart in your hands...and crushed it!"_ The monster clawed it's hand closer to her body and breathed it's putrid vitriol right into her face, _"Y_ _ou don't deserve to be his guiding light! You are scum! The ultimate representative of the cancerous nature that plagues ALL mankind! All of our seething, infectious hatred, is not NEARLY enough to describe how much_ _ **I**_ _despise you...wench!"_

After twisting his head around to try and get a better look at Shina's motionless body, the monster curled back into position and rattled Alex's body some more, _"T_ _ell her! Tell her how you_ _ **really**_ _feel! Let this pathetic, SELFISH woman truly understand the depths of our agony!"_

Alex stirred to life with a worn down groan and no sense of weight to the way he raised his head. His vision was faint, but he could make out the speck that was Shina's body on the ground. He turned his head away and closed his eyes, tightening his lips into a small scowl.

"He...he's right... His voice wouldn't even be heard by bugs."

 _"Louder! Louder! Scream out in rage! Let our hatred be the last thing that burrows into her corrupt soul!"_ The monster flailed it's head back like a bull in a rodeo, landing with such a sudden jolt that Alex's heart began racing, his mouth widening with a ghoulish scream.

"He's right! He's right about everything..." He yelled out in a meek voice, turning his head away again right after, only this time in the opposite direction, "And...I'm sorry..."

"I...I can never hate you Shina...Not when this is all my fault. I...I should've told you everything from the start...But I was...afraid. Afraid that you **would** look at me like I'm a freak. But you never did...You saw me as a friend from the very start...I guess...I guess I just tried too hard and too soon to make that affection blossom into something...more..."

"God...Why am I such a fucking idiot? I never should've accepted your request...It was for selfish reasons that I went with you in the first place...You deserved someone better to help you out...someone less...broken..." With a tightening grimace, Alex squinted his eyes together tight and said, "I can't even look at you now...knowing that if it wasn't for me, you still might have gotten to spend a couple more years with your family...At least you deserve to know that you are far, FAR from the worst humanity has to offer...Cause **I** -"

"SHUT! UUUUUUP!" Shina _screamed_ , tearing apart her own throat in the process. She stamped the ground with one foot and caused it to split, the recoil causing her leg to throb in pain. She curled her fists until the nails were penetrated the palms, then swung her head up and looked on the verge of overflowing with tears that would never come to be.

"You're not the only one at fault here! You're not...You're not! So don't think...for a even gosh darn _second_...that I'm gonna let you sit there and talk BULLSHIT about yourself!"

"It's all true though! Look at me Shina! What do you see?!" Alex swung his head forward and screamed in bewilderment.

"I only see you Alex! It doesn't make a difference to me if you're some boil on a monster's back or a grouchy teenager...You're you, and no one else!"

"I'm a FREAK! A monster!"

"No you're not! You're Alex Whiter! A human who, right now, is trying reeeeaaally hard to deny how much his heart is crying out to be rescued!"

"R-Rescued?! Don't be ridiculous! There's nothing worth living for in this world! I'd be better off dead!"

"...I'm sorry you've had to go through life feeling that way Alex, and...I didn't help ya on that front..."

 _"That's right...you scorned us!"_

"I never meant for it to come across like that!" Shina shook her head, then paused and lowered it a little, "But...looking back on it now, I can see why you'd feel that way, and...I-I'm really, really _sincerely_ sorry for lying to you back then."

"You...lied?" Alex gasped.

 _"Of course she lied! That's all-"_

"Butt out! This is between me and Alex!" Shina forceful interjection stalled the monster for a moment, giving her the chance she needed to look the boy straight up in the eyes and give him her utmost honesty.

"Alex...I've always admired you a lot. Like... _a lot_ a lot. When I saw you fight for the first time, I was awe-struck by your headstrong and heroic behavior. It reminded me of the superheroes I used to read about in comic books back home...You never backed down from any fight, you were always there when I needed you...and you always had a just heart."

"...But little ol' me? I was just a fool getting in over my head...I knew deep down in my heart there was no comparison between us. So...I ended up propping you up on a very high pedestal, and never tried to approach you too hard...All the time we've been together, I never had the courage to go beyond just friendship, cause ultimately I thought you...deserved someone a lot better than me."

Alex stared down at her with a wide-eyed look on his face, his expression caught in a perpetual state of confusion. Shina evaded his eyes for a bit and frowned, while the atmosphere grew silent. Then she looked straight up and screamed, "But I was wrong! We BOTH were wrong! It's not right to judge each other with labels and assumptions!"

"Alex...isn't a god. Alex...is someone that gets angry, and smiles...and cries," The fist holding her bracelet tightened up in front of her chest and she gave a firm hard nod towards the boy, "Our experiences may make us different in mind, but we still share the same skin, the same bodies, and the same hearts!"

"And right now, I can feel your heart screaming more than ever Alex! You WANT to be saved! And this time **I'LL** be the one to fight with everything I've got to win!" She slammed down on the stone on her bracelet representing the Valkyrie Drive, and in an instant a pillar of majestic light shot up through the clouds from around her body.

Alex watched on in silence, even as the monster below him squirmed and retreat with a deathly hiss. The light parted, and Shina stood still in the center of it. Her hair flowed to the knees like a river of azure, while her body was protected by a thin, pristine silver armor that looked as though it was forged by godly hands. With sapphire gauntlets and diamond grieves in her possession, Shina gripped tight a four-foot long blade with a bright silver-blue coating and swung once at the monster, cleaving away the venomous cloud that had lingered over it.

Alex knew what he saw wasn't the worrywart of a girl he had been acquainted with before. She stood tall and proud, a valiant and divine warrior that had steeled her mind and left doubt far behind. But seeing her now...just scared Alex even more.

"D-Don't be stupid! You have no idea what he's capable of now! If you fight him, you're going to die Shina! Just run! Get out of here and save yourself while you still have a chance!"

 _"That's right coward...Run away...Flee to the farthest reaches of the universe! That is all your kind is good for!"_

"Run away? That ain't like ya at all Alex!" Shina raised her brows and smirked, "..After all, you said it yourself..."

Reaching for her back, she wrenched Alex's own blade free and swung it out in conjunction with hers, gripping both in an unbreakable vice as she screamed, "Don't run away...DON'T RUN AWAY FROM LIVING!"

"N-No way..." Alex's resistance crumbled to dust, his body becoming a numb mass of nerves and flesh as he stared into Shina's eyes, uncertain as to just _who_ he was looking at now.

"But I can't do this alone Alex! I need your help to put this beast down for good!"

"T-There's nothing **I** can do! I'm powerless!" Alex yelled in a frazzled voice.

"Yes there IS! Just scream Alex...scream at the top of your lungs the one thing you REALLY want most! Let my heart resonate with yours, and together...our spirits will be the light that overcomes this horrible darkness!" Shina smiled harder than she ever had before and stared up into Alex's face, screaming to the detriment of her throat, "SO SAY YOU WANNA LIVE!"

"I...I...I wanna live..." Alex gulped out in pain.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"I...I want to live!" His voice roared louder.

"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?! GIMME A REAL OVERLORD'S SCREAM!"

"I WANT TO LIVE!" Alex wretched his body forward and set his lungs aflame as he screamed, "I WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH YOU SHINA AURORA! YOU'RE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN MY LIFE, AND I WANT TO HOLD YOU TIGHT TO MY CHEST AND NEVER LET GO...BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!"

"AND I LOVE YOU TOO ALEX!" Shina screamed, her head and chest starting to feel rather fuzzy and light.

 _"Ahem...aren't you forgetting something?"_ The monster murmured in a nonchalant voice as he began to push his hulking mass off the ground, towering even higher over Shina. The planet quaked, the clouds roared, and the surface around them erupted into a cascading mess of lava.

 _"I...will not and SHALL not ever approve of this!"_ The rage of the monster burst forth in a bellowing howl that shook Shina's body to the core, even as she stood her ground unflinching.

 _"Filthy wench...! I will not let you lure him in with your siren's song! The only voice he needs to hear is mine! I am the only one who deserves to protect him!"_

"The only one he needs protecting from is you!" Shina swung her sword up at the monster's mouth.

 _"Silence! All you humanoids are the same...You deceive and cower your way through life without a care for those you trample along the way! Well I won't allow it any longer! I WILL give him what his heart begs for, a universe where no harm shall ever be inflicted upon him!"_

"You can't even function on your own! I told ya, you ain't nothing but a dirty rotten parasite!"

 _"That may be the case now, but WE have the power to change that...! Once I have absorbed enough Nightmare Souls, I will be able to fully overpower his consciousness and FORCE him to use his powers as an Elemental Overlord to create an exact replica of our body...And then I will no longer be a mere split in his personality, I will be my own living, BREATHING, person!"_

"Well that ain't happening on my watch! It's time you retreated back into the deepest darkest recesses of Alex's mind where you belong, monster!"

"SHINA! SHIIINAAAAA!" Alex screamed a panicked cry as the monster's body flared up with a vicious aura of fire.

 _"Monster? I am more than that...I..._ _ **AM**_ _the Phoenix of Destruction!"_ The creature's scream split the sky in twine, but Shina still held true to her conviction and swung both her blades in a cross before the face.

 _"Hold on tight Alex...I'm coming to save ya!"_

 _Next Time: Fearless_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Falling Down**

As the world quaked around her, Shina faced down the horrifying monster that had made Alex a prisoner of both mind and body, her resolve more sturdy than diamond. The gruesome, slimy beast had it's mouth far agape, making it's intentions to kill and devour her present with every second it lumbered on the ground. She stood with bravado, but ultimately had no idea as to how she was going to free the boy from this terrible, terrible fate.

The monster did not offer her a second of respite after she had made her declaration of defiance. With just an effortless twitch of his muddy brow, the monster caused towering spikes of crag to erupt forth from the ground straight at her. She grabbed tight onto both swords and glided to the right, weaving a streak of light in her wake as she sliced diagonally through the side of the side of the rock with Alex's blade.

The blade resisted her swing and wrenched her elbow just a little out of alignment, causing the slice to cleave only halfway through the rocks. Biting her teeth down as the monster taunted her with a subdued chuckle, Shina swung her gaze back and watched as the rocks swiftly tried to surround her, the jagged tips pressed together to seal away the outside light.

Shina ignited her aura like a sun releasing a flare, then spun her own blade around and rocketed straight up, shattering the ceiling right as the walls shot forth dozens of impaling spikes. Stopping fifty feet above the ground, she stared ahead at the space between the monster's eyes. With his features sagging, the monster then broke apart the rocks and left them to lay on the ground as pebbles.

From the creases in it's flesh, the monster let loose thick vines laced with poisoned thorns in a sprawling, web-like manner. The vines were guided with perfect precision, giving Shina only milliseconds to evade them. Zipping to the right, her 'heart' pounded hard once against her chest as the thorns almost grazed her skin. Had it not been for a quick application of aura to the arm, she would have succumbed to the foreign venom.

The vines kept emerging by the dozen, and Shina began evading them by pressing her arms against the sides of her body and twirling away. Each time she made a full rotation, she could spare only a second to slice her own blade down and send out a wave of aura as big as her body. The attacks wounded the monster's skin with finger deep scars that were swiftly mended, but not without garnering a growl of irritation from the beast's gullet.

After seven seconds of consistent evasion, Shina realized she had rounded the monster's entire scalp and thus flipped over the last set of vines. Her body spun upside-down a bit and gave her a clear view of Alex, who was stuck in the center of this thorny crown. Pure fear ran cold through his pale skin, and even the sight of her brave smile could do little to thaw it.

Frozen for a little while, Alex's eyes suddenly widened as he screamed 'WATCH OUT!' in the most frantic tone imaginable. Shina's mouth retracted into a pucker as her body was cast upon by a collapsing shadow. The once stiff vines loosened up like gelatin and began to rise, surrounding her in a cage shaped like a flower bud. For a couple seconds, they were docile, leaving their poison to trickle from the thorns and further restrict Shina's movements to the very center of this entrapment.

Floating upright and looking around, she could feel the vines stir with aggression, like lionesses hungering for their prey. Without a single warning, they snapped together in an attempt to constrict and devour her. But in a flash, Shina spun her body around three times with both blades extended. Even with the stubbornness of Alex's blade working against her, she sliced away the upper vines and caused them to be sent flying.

The poison spread like a fine grainy mist, but a thin layer of aura kept it from penetrating her body. She offered the same protection to Alex, who stared agape with awe.

" _Stubborn wench...!"_ The monster roared, and the vines regrew with a speed that matched the strength of his ferocity. They collapsed upon her even faster than before, but in their haste left enough of a gap for Shina to barrel through unharmed. After flying twenty feet away from the monster, she spun around and watched as it retracted the vines back into it's flesh and raised a lumbering hand into the air.

Slamming it down with the weight of a seismic hammer, the ground erupted with a plume of magma right below Shina. She covered her body in aura, but the heat still seared through with an intensity that made her feel as though she was trapped inside of an oven set to broil.

A grimy pus oozed forth from the monster's fingertips as he grew talons of carbon and scraped them through the planet's surface, degrading their composition until they were as black as newly formed ash. The magma erupted in a plume a hundred feet tall, consuming Shina's body within. Though the pain of the heat was difficult to bear, Shina welled up aura inside of her body for a few seconds and then set it all to burst, splattering the magma in all directions and giving her the opening to escape.

She flew to the right and pointed her blade out, summoning several shining swords of aura that spun around her body. The swords shot forth on a straight and narrow path, plunging themselves deep into the crevices of the monster's flesh, with his grating roar indicating that they had punctured the 'nerves'.

Shina kept her stock of blades replenished and firing at a rapid rate while she flew around to the monster's back. Condensing multiple blades into a single, larger one, she sent it out to impale the very dead center of the monster's spine. She dispelled her sword for a second and used the freed up hand to concentrate on the sword. With eyes squinting and her mouth being pushed apart from the strain, she managed to get the blade to twist and push its way deeper into the body.

The monster then began to resist, and hunched it's back to try and force the blade out like it was an in-grown splinter. Shina was slowly being pushed away, her body feeling as though it was fighting against a hurricane. Her arm bent back, the elbow joints cracking, but still she pressed on. Her right eye shut itself as liquid spewed out of the monster's wound, and that side of her face scowled.

"Not...enough...!" The need to put more effort into her attack forced her to throw Alex's blade up and catch it on an aura holster on the back, then use that freed up hand to brace her wrist. Her arm held steady even as the pressure grew worse. The monster had the talons in both it's hands burrowed deep underground, the pain it suffered affecting Alex too, as the boy tightened his fists within the constraining flesh and grimaced.

The monster's resistance grew to the point of lightning bolts shooting forth from the wound and striking the clouds in the sky. Shina could feel it, the energy welling up inside like a geyser ready to burst, and it's power was incredible, frightening in fact! But she had to hold on, just a tiny bit longer, and perhaps she'd be able to breech the monster deep enough to stop it.

Alas, the underestimation would prove to be her undoing this time, as but a mere few seconds later the sword shattered under the pressure and a bolt of lighting as thick as her body smited her right out of the sky. Her armor took the brunt of the attack, but the impact still rocked her insides something fierce and her skin seethed with a pain that was equivalent to being impaled with a rod of hot iron.

After tumbling across the ground twice, her left shoulder scraped up a deep, deep trench at least eighty feet long. When her head rammed into the end of it, a bunch of rocks dislodged and avalanched on top of her body. The monster then began to swivel around, it's tail smoothing out the ground along the way. Burrowing it's hands deep down, the monster heaved it's girth off the ground and leapt on over to the beginning of the trench.

With maw creaked open halfway, the monster channeled a frosty light within the center of it and then froze the inside of the trench in a flash. After moving a couple feet back, it then spread it's mouth open twice as wide and exchanged out the bitter cold for arid flames, creating an orb that enveloped almost the entire circumference of it's grimy jaw.

Alex closed his eyes and jerked his head away, the sound of the crackling flames leaving him deaf to the cracks breaking out amongst the ice. The cracks started out small, then grew to cover the entire expanse, until finally there was nothing but cracks and the pale white remnants of ice between them. Right as the flames were set to extinguish Shina's life in an instant, a wave of aura sped between the parting ice and intercepted them, cleaving the path the flames traveled in twine.

As the flames tore through the ground beside the trench for a good half a mile each, Shina smashed straight through the ice and turned it all to sparkling dust, swiping her blade down through the front of the monster's face. She didn't put all her power into it, otherwise the attack would have reached Alex.

Instead, she reached back and pulled Alex's blade out, swinging it in a rough and uneven curve to stab the roof of the monster's mouth. Then she ripped it back out, splattering it's murky green fluids on her body as she got away. The beast then inhaled an unfathomable amount of air into it's body, dragging the particles of ice and stone around it into it's black hole-like gullet while Shina used all her strength just to fight back the suction tugging at her body. Her legs were the first part of her to give in, but thankfully the monster sealed it's mouth shut before the rest of her did the same.

The damage done to his body was patched up in seconds, and with a hollow stare the beast's gullet churned with a quiet laughter. Shina perked her brows up, with Alex then yelling out to her, "Watch out! He can take energy away from the planet to heal!"

" _It's time for you to be quiet..."_ The monster growled, spawning two small vines from the roof of it's head to strap around Alex's skull and bind his mouth shut.

" _Energy from the planet? I read about that once in the history books...If that's a power tied to the Elemental Overlord, then that means..."_ Shina clanged both blades in a cross before her body, turning her own blade into pure raw aura, _"I'll just have to cut the monster off from that power!"_

With a brief glance at Alex's blade, she tried to channel some of her aura into it, only for the blade to reject it with a blistering heat through her hand. Nothing fatal, just a simple warning to 'Back. OFF!'

" _But it'd help if you just worked with me here..."_ She then grumbled while shaking her wrist to get rid of the pain. Backing off as the monster fired a massive lightning bolt from it's mouth, Shina planted Alex's blade on her back and then swung hers out with both hands. Cleaving the air itself, she set loose giant ethereal waves of aura upon her foe, each one coming out in a different direction with how fast and furiously she swung.

The waves penetrated the monster's body and passed through to the other side, painting the air with wavy streaks of burning red and azure blue. Yet after ten seconds of this fruitless assault, Shina pulled the sword back at her hip and saw that the monster did not even flinch. In fact, it struck back with a terrifying vigor, slamming it's beefy right hand down through the air towards her location.

She flipped back, but the pressure from the hand's descent dragged her straight to the ground unexpectedly. Her legs bent together and she tried to use that moment to spring back up, only for her strength to crumble like a pile of rocks and her knees to drop straight to the ground.

Swinging her head up as the shadow of the monster's hand loomed above, Shina raised her sword just in the nick of time to surround her body with an enclosed dome of aura. The hand enveloped its fingers around it after the initial smash cracked it on top, pushing forth talons through the fingertips to dig up the ground surrounding her.

Shina trembled at the knees and her expression grew uncertain, especially as the monster dangled her before it's face with a contemplative grin full of cruel intent. Letting the sphere of aura she was trapped in fall to the very, very tips of his talons, the creature applied just a little pressure to push the tips through the barrier without breaking the whole thing. Then, by deriving poison from the plants he had under his dominion, the monster flooded the prison with a slow forming, violet mist.

" _Die a slow...painful death...cretin."_ The monster murmured with it's attentive gaze. Shina covered her face with a makeshift aura mask to prevent the venom's entry, but the cloud was quickly becoming a thick cloud that would soon be impossible to fend off. Thus, working fast to think up a plan, Shina wrapped her legs up in a makeshift splint of aura and channeled the healing energies into her muscles until they were good enough to move.

Then, pressing her heels against the floor, she drew Alex's blade while her vision was consumed in violet and expanded the barrier against the pressuring will of the talons around her. With the bubble bulging, struggling to burst apart at the seams, Shina took both blades and stabbed them forward while simultaneously leaping out to pop her way through.

Rocketing forth at the speed of light, Shina ripped straight through the monster's gullet and came out his backside, enduring the screams of the damned that riddled his innards along the way. Emerging drenched in slime, Shina spun around and grinded up the rock with her heels as she landed, taking the oppurtunity to assault the monster's backside with a flurry of energy waves from her own blade.

Chunks of flesh broke off and went flying across the ground as the monster cobbled itself around to face her, but only a mild perturbance was present on it's shapeless face by the time it stopped and stared her down. With two short pounds on the ground from each hand, the beast bellowed out a deafening roar with the pressure of a class five hurricane carrying it across the lands. Shina was swept off her feet and sent flying hundreds of feet through the away, stopping only once she pressed her feet against a quickly made sheet of aura.

The monster digs its fingers into the ground and causes the planet's surface to quake for miles around as with but a mere whim of the mind chunks of rock far bigger than himself were dug up and compressed into a spherical form around him. Leaving the ground a hollow moat circumferencing his body, the monster had created a dozen meteors that were set ablaze with a moist snap of the fingers, engulfing the sky with a bright, almost apocalyptic glow.

Shina froze up with a trembling stare, but after swallowing the momentary hesitation she bent her legs back and propelled herself forward with the trajectory of a missile even as the swarm of meteors was sent flying her way. She gripped Alex's blade, caring not how stubborn it was acting, and targeted the first meteor that sped directly at her.

The air wrapped around her arms like a set of tiny hands and tried to pull them back, but her resolve to fight fought off their tug enough for her to intersect the blades like a pair of scissors and slice through the meteor. Using aura to block the flaming chunks that broke off, she flew past the split she made and went for another meteor.

Spinning around, she kept her momentum going as she sliced straight through the meteor, only to be caught by surprise when a meteor then ambushed her on the left and right. Her heart raced as she kicked up the speed, with Alex's blade resisting her control so much that the added momentum made her feel like her arm would be ripped clean off the socket at any second.

Her body rotated so fast that it became an aura whirlwind of slicing blades that ripped the meteors to pieces when they got in close. But because of their size they were still able to slow her down quite a bit by the time she was done, allowing a third meteor to come in at ramming speed and force her body to be pinned against it.

With the left cheek pressed against the burning surface and her back struggling against a ton's worth of air pressure, Shina gripped onto both blades so tight that not even death would loosen them. She pulled her blade back and stabbed it into meteor. The surface cracked, growing deeper as she plunged Alex's blade into it. She then swung both her fists overhead and, with many strands of hair distracting her, she smashed them into the handles to spread the cracks out for a good fifty feet around.

Then, gritting her teeth and swallowing a thick wad of saliva, she packed a thick wall of aura into her forehead and rammed it into the handles one more time. Her head throbbed in pain but a proud smile presented itself as she watched the meteor crumble apart, a multitude of shockwaves erupting from the cracks.

Though her hands were shaky, she plucked the blades free from the falling debris and tried to pick up the prior pace with no regard for the remaining meteors in her way. As the next meteor approached, she arched her flight upward and landed atop it, running across in a couple seconds and leaping out towards another one. Tripping up on landing, she nevertheless managed to make a clean exit off that meteor and sped straight down towards the monster, who had finally ran out of ammunition.

There were many ways to attack the target at this juncture, for even he seemed flabbergasted by her survival. But with a mind racing so fast that these thousands of ideas were an unfocused blur, Shina chose only to smash her entire body into the monster's forehead like a comet from space.

Even with it's body braced like an impenetrable wall, the ground beneath it crumbled apart for a hundred miles, burying it under at least a ton of rock. Shina heard the joints in her left arm break and her head began to throb with a greater intensity than before. Inspite of this, she managed to hold a stable grip onto both blades and swing them in an uppercut into the roof of the monster's mouth.

After launching the monster out of the abyss, she flew up with the speed of a lightning bolt in pursuit and spun her body around like a pinwheel to slice through the monster's face for a little bit.

" _If I can't cut him off from the planet...!"_ Breaking the rotation with a dual broad swing from her blades, she managed to cleave a large gash into both sides of the monster's body and blow him away, _"Then I'll just hafta keep breaking his concentration until I can come up with a plan to stop him!"_

Biting her teeth down with a raging intensity that refused to die, Shina encapsulated her own sword in a shiny blue aura and went in pursuit of the mighty beast. The monster slid across the ground but did not tear it up in his wake, instead leaving the surface flat as he absorbed every bit of crag into himself to heal. Then it lunged it's head forward and shot forth a barrage of fireballs as big as it's mouth, it's eyes flaring with a light just as burning red as they were.

Either by rolling or rising, Shina grazed past the fireballs and got in point-blank range of the beast with her sword swung back ready to impale the eye. But with a twist of the head the monster growled from the gut _"Enough of these games..."_ and flicked one finger at the ground to dredge up a multitude of steel and copper wires.

They proved perfect in penetrating Shina's current robotic frame and holding her limbs back, with her being forced to accept the reality that her blade was just an inch off from his face. The monster aimed it's gaze dead center at the frustration on her face and then pulled it's body off the ground, dragging her up along with him. Then with a mighty pounce, the monster whipped the wires down and sent her hurtling through dozens of feet of rock all at once.

Only when the wires snapped stiff did the monster hoist it's beefy hand around them and send a million volts of electricity coarsing through. Shina dealt with the pain of the wires ingraining themselves into her metallic nerves by biting her teeth down and sucking it up, a feat that was rather impressive considering how wooden and doll-like her body was currently positioned.

With the electicity seconds from striking, she coated her body in an armor of aura and prayed that it would be enough to secure her safety. The lightning connected and lit her body up to the point she couldn't be seen amongst the wild, fraying bolts that erupted in all directions.

The ground was torn open and became unrecognizable to the naked eye, while the clouds split apart and exposed the battlefield to the rays of sunshine hiding behind them. Shina's aura held up to the assault but rocked her body to the core, and the struggle to survive left her unable to utilize either of her blades to escape. But she didn't lose hope. She _couldn't_ lose it. Through pain, turmoil and despair, hope would be the one thing that'd stick to her heart like glue.

And, perhaps because she had chosen to cling to that hope, lady luck decided to intervene and guide the whims of fate in her favor just this once. The sunshine that had parted through the clouds nudged just a little closer to her body and breeched the lightning to reflect off her peerless blade, casting a blinding shine upon the monster's eyes.

With a gravely wince the monster's concentration broke, and the lightning disappeared in a flash. Shina widened her eyes in shock and gasped, freeing herself from the self-imposed constraints of her aura by channeling it all into her blade. The aura took upon the form of a divine looking streak as it swirled around the body and gave her strength. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she flexed her muscles and broke off the weakened wires with a valiant charge.

She slashed her blade twice at the beast, each attack carving a diagonal streak of pure bright light into the very atoms in the air. Then she stabbed into the center of the slashes, the energy pushling itself through the monster's body and causing a massive bulge to form on the back. After a couple seconds of gargled screaming from the creature's gut, the energy was purged from his body in a resounding burst that spread out like a pair of soft, angelic wings.

The monster crumpled into a gooey mess covered in boiling steam, it's mouth laid out along the ground like a swampy puddle. Shina drew her sword back and panted, then took in a deep breath and floated over to Alex, who squirmed to try and breath through his restraints. Extending the tip of her blade and breathing out in relief, she sliced the vines right off and dispelled her sword to reach out to him.

He heaved and coughed with eyes frightened wide, then stared up into Shina's smiling face with great perplexity present on his own. After a couple seconds she tilted her head, whereas Alex screamed in a panic, "WATCH OUT! IT'S A TRAP!"

The planet trembled, it's resources drained as an offering of nutrition for the starving beast, whose power spiked back greater than before as it rose right up and smashed Shina with the top of it's slimy skull. After dragging her as far into the air as it's body could stretch, the monster opened it's mouth and snapped it shut to drag her down back down for a second, upon which it swung the mouth agape and blasted her with a point-blank fireball.

The fireball dragged her body a hundred feet away and then exploded, devastating the ground beneath and leaving her to lie buried in it's remains. The strength to stand still resided within her legs, but only to the halfway point before they were gripped by a terrible shakiness. The unstable ground did little to help her stance, so she hopped back up to stable land, only to find herself stared down by the fully rejuvenated monster from a distance.

Digging it's talons into the ground and trench it in rows, the monster crawled closer and closer, lurking ominously amidst the growing dark clouds and eruption of flames it tore up with a mere swing of the tail.

" _This planet is a bountiful garden of elemental energy ready to be reaped and sowed at my leisure...My energy is limitless, while yours, pitiful wench, is not."_ The monster delivered this cold hard truth with a paralyzing, soul-piercing gaze.

" _Your stupidity is one of your most vulgar features, especially when combined with your disgusting optimism. What? Did you honestly think that_ _ **'hope'**_ _and_ _ **'LOVE'**_ _would win the day for you? If those concepts were as omnipotent as you believe them to be, then why must we still suffer, devoid of their supposed all-curing power? Hope and love are terms only exist to trick little boys and girls into believing that there is good in this cruel, cruel world."_

" _But there is only pain! Pain and suffering that_ _ **WE**_ _have spent an eternity enduring with no escape in sight! We are not sick! We have no need for your prescriptions of hopes and dreams! Only death can free us from this torment! The death of all those who can and would hurt us! You are no_ _ **messiah**_ _, wench! You are just a little, lonesome girl in way over her head! You can't save ANYONE! You have failed us! You have failed your SISTER!"_

" _Just DIE! Just die die DIE and leave us alone! Garbage! Trash! I will not let you tarnish us with your unsightly presence any longer!"_

The monster's feelings were raging out of control, but Shina was not the least bit sympathetic to his plight. A part of Alex's consciousness he may be, but that doesn't make **him** deserving of pity. However, the monster did raise a good point. For all the bravado she threw out, Shina was not the least bit closer to freeing Alex from this torment.

She looked towards Alex's blade and thought, _"I assumed if I used you, it'd help out a lot but...I guess you just don't find me worthy..."_

" _It's name..."_ A gentle, feminine whisper tickled at Shina's eardrums and caused her to shift her head around in bewilderment.

" _H-Huh? That voice...It sounds like...mom?"_

" _The name...it's...Gekimetsu..."_

" _The name? You mean..."_ Shina looked at the crystal clear amber blade, _"This sword's?"_

" _Save them...Please! You're...the only one who can save them...!"_ The voice faded into nothingness with a cry for help that echoed from the depths of their heart. Shina felt goosebumps rising along her body, and her temperature dropped as she stared straight ahead at the monster.

" _I shall give you one last chance to surrender yourself quietly, wench...If you do, the pain you've made us endure shall only be repaid upon you twice over instead of thrice"_

Shina lurched forward and swung both blades out. Her eyes were as weary as her legs, but she could still see Alex clearly atop the monster. Cutting down the beast's aura proved futile, and he was too strong for her to destroy completely. That left only one solution available to vanquish this mighty titan...

" _I have to cut Alex loose! Then the monster won't be able to feed off him any longer!"_ She then brought Alex's blade before her face and gave it a firm glare.

" _But I can't do it alone! Please! Just this one time, let me use your power!"_

" _Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four..."_ The monster picked away at the ground with a single finger, making a scar for every second he counted down.

The name of the blade echoed from Shina's mind down to her mouth, and with both fear and determination burning her heart down to cinders she took it upon herself to take this last chance offered to save Alex's life.

"...Gekimetsu..." The mere whisper of the blade's name caused it to shine with a heated glow. The monster's countdown reached it's climax with it digging it's entire hand through the ground and opening it's mouth wide to scream, _"STUBBORN WENCH!"_

"LEND ME...YOUR POWER!" Shina screamed at the top of your lungs, and the power of her resolve resonated within the mighty Overlord's blade. Her body was pulled apart from both sides as her left arm erupted in a spectacular blaze of crimson fire. With her head rearing back and her aura flaring out of control, she struggled in desperation to contain Gekimetsu's inferno in her hand, which shook to try and break free.

The monster dug it's hands into the ground and grated away at it as his body was pushed back a few inches at a time, _"H-How is this possible?! Why...why is it obeying YOU?!"_

Shina's body levitated off the ground, the surging power pushing against the planet's surface and shattering the land for miles around with lashing waves of fire and aura. Still she screamed, all other thoughts and emotions save for one eclipsed by the pain.

"She...she's going to kill herself!" Alex panicked cry reached only his ears, yet still he lashed his head forward and yelled, "STOP IT SHINA! STOP IT NOW!"

Her hands trembled, yet still she held her grip tight on Gekimetsu's handle, twisting her fingers around to show her utmost refusal to submit. Fighting against the cascading power, she pulled her head forward and bit her teeth down, growling with the ferocity of a dragon as her eyes burned with a neon mixture of blue and red.

The monster opened it's mouth, but in a millisecond Shina was right in front of him with Gekimetsu stabbed forward. The raw power penetrated straight through it's gullet like an arrow forged from the sun, rending it's innards apart and forcing the creature back fifty feet in an instant. The monster's hands trembled as they clenched into fists, followed by it letting out a feral roar as it heaved towering walls of hardened carbon around Shina's body to cage her. But in a second, searing cracks spread across the frontmost wall and shattered the wall like dynamite going off.

Shina swung her own blade down and struck the monster with a lightspeed wave of energy, throwing it out just hard enough to mangle the monster's face and leave Alex unharmed. The beast burrowed it's murky hands through the cracks in the ground and sucked up the magma beneath the planet's surface to recover, hastily opening its mouth to fire super compressed air bullets at Shina's path.

Each strike could only stall her charge a foot back, but stalling was the name of the game for the monster now. He believed that this foolish girl would burn to cinders in a matter of time. A perfect fate for her defiant folly, in his eyes.

But that just went to show how little the monster knew about what it meant to be Shina Aurora. For ever since the day Alex said to her _"Then you can fight with all your heart, and nobody will be able to stop you from saving your family..."_ she has lived by that creed to the best of her ability.

And now...she wasn't just going to save her old family, but also the boy she may one day have a family of her own with. Compared to the pain of failing herself now, the inferno burning away at her arm were like ant bites nibbling at the skin.

Fighting against the air pressure the monster fired at a rapid, consistent rate, Shina stabbed Gekimetsu into one of the air bullets and caused a wave of hot air to lash back at the monster's gullet, drying up his skin and slowing his movements down to a snail's pace.

Shina bolted right for Alex, but the monster shed it's skin and leapt right off the ground to intercept her. Before she could be buried under his immense girth, Shina zipped back and then started flying circles around the beast, using the heat to her advantage by forming a tornado of flames to trap the monster within.

The monster dug its hands into the ground to avoid being carried off, then fought back with a counterclockwise spinning tornado of frost surrounding itself. The two forces counteracted the each other and broke apart in a widespread, lukewarm gale.

The monster twisted it's head around frantically and screamed, _"Where are you?! You can't run forever, wench!"_

"I don't plan on it!" Shina's voice echoed down from above, and by the time the monster could rear it's head up to spot her in the sky she was already five feet away with both blades swung overhead enough for the tips to reach her back.

She slashed them down with the precise descent of gulloitines, cleaving massive gashes through the sides of the monster's body that separated it from it's limbs. Her cuts avoided striking even the edge of Alex's knuckles, and thus gave her the opening she needed to free him at last. She landed on the monster's head as it flailed around and screamed in painful agony, betrayed by the sword that was once a part of him.

It was a real rodeo trying to hold on to her footing, but after breaking her hold on Gekimetsu's power she put the blade aside and extended her fried arm out to Alex while yelling, "Hurry! Grab my hand!"

Alex budged his right arm out of the loosened, slimy mass with little effort on his tired part, but as the tips of his fingers grazed Shina's hand he began to slip away. His body was being swiftly dragged into the monster's mass, his expression one of a tight-lipped gasp before he vanished completely.

" _I WON'T LET YOU HAVE HIM! HE WILL NOT SUFFER YOUR BETRAYAL AGAIN!"_ The monster was consumed by its own desires, and its power began to rage out of control and spread out across the entire planet. Huge chunks of rock tore away from the ground and shattered to the size of pebbles, while magma burst forth from the seams that remained, towering sky-high towards the heavens themselves. The monster began to reform, far stronger than before, but Shina knew there was still a chance to stop armageddon.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she dove straight into the rippling puddle left behind in the monster's body.

Alex sank into a deep darkness, staring up just to glimpse one last time at the light from the outside world. He appreciated that he no longer had to listen to his other personality talk at the moment, and began to close his eyes as he drift into an eternal abyss.

" _I almost fooled myself into think I'd be saved this time...Tsk! Who am I kidding? All the light's ever done is take things away from me...Ever since the day that comet killed my parents, I've only lived in the darkness...I-I never deserved to be saved...or to know what it's like to step out into the light...This is a perfect end for me...At least now...Shina will do what's right, and put us both to rest for good..."_

"ALEX!" The boy opened his eyes upon hearing her shrill cry, puzzled by the presence of a dim light through the darkness. The light grew bigger and brighter, and soon a hand could be seen stretching out through it towards him.

"Shi...na?" Alex was tired and feeling lucid, the darkness having so much of a grip on his mind that he assumed that he was being dragged into one final dream. A dream that would taunt him with just one last grasp at hope before he succumbed to an eternal slumber in despair.

He extended his right hand out, almost subconsciously, and grabbed onto the hand. His skin tingled with a fuzzy sensation of warm for a second, and he began to close his eyes again before he could even catch a glimpse of the person in front of him.

"I guess...this isn't a bad dream to end on..." With his lips spreading into a smile, he went unconscious.

Outside, the monster continued its violent roar as the ground around it was ripped to shreds, unaware of what was welling up inside of him. After a few seconds his back began to bulge, and rays of light shot forth from out of his mouth. His dominion over the elements began to quell as he gazed down in bewilderment, just in time for his innards to explode with a shining blast of holy light, and Shina to rocket out of his mouth with Alex cradled in her arms.

She fell upon the ground and went rolling for a bit, but kept Alex held on tight until she was able to stick her heels against the broken crag and come to a complete stop. Turning around on the dime, Shina watched as the monster's form began to dissolve like it had coated in a thick layer of acid.

" _No...NO! I won't go back! I won't let you get away with this YOU WENCH!"_ Now fearful in his pleas, the monster sprung through the air towards his other self, whose eyes popped right open as its shadow flew overhead. Pulling back deeper into Shina's embrace and grabbing onto her right shoulder, Alex's heart raced as it seemed as though the monster would succeed in devouring them both.

But it could not make it. Gravity dragged the shapless mass of slime and goo to the ground and turned it into a bubbling, fizzing out puddle in a matter of seconds. The monster disappeared not with it's screams, but in silence, and so too did the Earth return to what could be considered a well-deserved state of tranquility.

Alex stared out for a few seconds and then let his arms slump towards the ground, his right one brushing along the front of Shina's body in the process. Caught in the middle of a sigh, he shifted right into a gasp and looked straight up at her face with a red fluster in his cheeks. After her smile and gentle giggle, Alex shifted his gaze around in all directions and tilted his head away from her body.

Trying to stand up all the way, Shina found herself plummeting to her knees and knocking Alex's body a foot into the air before catching him again. He jerked his head her way and exclaimed, "C-Can't you TRY and be a little delicate there?!"

"Well EXCUSE me!" Shina puffed her cheeks out in anger and glared Alex down, "This is the thanks I get for saving your _life_?!"

Alex widened his eyes and froze up for a little bit. Then with a glance to the left he pouted his lips and murmured, "W-Well I guess you'll have gotten him to shut up for a little bit..."

Shina smiled but closed her eyes this time, causing Alex to feel a chill racing down his spine. His eyelids sank, and with a resting sigh he murmured with a sincere generosity in his voice, "T-Thank you for saving me...Shina."

"Hehehe! It was no problem at all Alex!" Shina declared with a chipper tone, ignoring all the pain her body was wracked with.

Then, the two went silent and looked away from each other for a little while. They had all the time in the world to themselves, but Alex didn't wait more than ten seconds to let out a dry cough and ask, "S-So...we...we both meant what we said, right?"

"H-Huh?" Shina looked down at him and nodded her head a few times in quick succession, "O-O-Of course **I** did! ...D-Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about-"

"N-Not at all!" Alex swung his hands around and shook his head for a couple seconds, "B-But it's just that...if...if we're serious...then uhhh..."

His whole face turned red, overwhelming the color in his eyes as his gaze shook away from Shina's face. With a couple blinks Shina muttered 'I got it!' and then leaned her face in closer to his, puckering her lips together with eyes squeezed shut.

Alex twisted his head just in the nick of time to yell out in a frazzled panic, "W-What are you doing?!"

Shina reeled back in, both disappointed and relieved that the mood was ruined as she replied honestly, "Shouldn't we...ya know? Have our first...kiss?"

"...Now?!" Alex swiped his arms down across his slimy, half-naked body.

"Oh...r-r-right...I guess this wouldn't be..." Shina was ashamed of herself, and bit down hard on her lower lip as she looked away from the boy. But after a couple seconds, a certain realization struck her mind.

"Alex...your body..." She glided her right hand along his smooth backside, "It's human again..."

"...It is?" Alex reached one hand up and touched himself on the chest, breathing a bewildered sigh, "...If I had to take a guess, the artifact piece's responsible for this... _somehow_."

"Oh yeah! Where did that go?!" Shina shot her head up and looked around, but saw that the stone was nowhere in sight.

"...It's in my right pocket Shina..." Alex murmured, his fading energy reflected in his voice. Shina didn't waste even a second to dig her right hand into his pants and pull the curved stone free. However, her glee and triumph in acquiring the final piece she needed to save her people was stalled by the presence of a note wrapped around it.

"...Huh?" Shina plucked it off and rested the stone on Alex's stomach. There was only one sentence and a signature on the note.

"Congratulations on winning...for now. Signed...Violet?" Shina raised her brows and looked at Alex with a shrug.

"...Violet? That can't be that bastard's name...could it?"

"I think it's a clue..." Shina decided to tuck the note away for now and picked the artifact piece right back up.

"Haaaa...I don't care about that right now. I'm really tired..." Alex closed his eyes and rested his hands on his stomach.

"Heh. I'll take you back to Maverick Hunter HQ so you can rest up. Boy...am I going to hafta to explain a LOT to X and the others when I get back." Somehow, Shina made THAT sound more troubling than everything she dealt with today.

"...Oh yeah, X...I...almost forgot we were still on their world..."

"Yeah. I'll tell ya what I've been up to later. Just rest for now, okay...my cuddly wittle boyfriend?" Shina's playful tone gave Alex the strength to throw out one last groan.

"No...no...just...no...w-we're...going to have to talk about using that kind of language around me..." Alex shook his head a bit before it fell into a slump in her arms. Then, after staring into his docile face for a little bit, Shina took off flying back to Maverick Hunter HQ, her heart full of satisfaction...and an even greater hope than before.

 _Next Time: The Last Remnant_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: The Weaponsmaster, Infinity Mijinion**

 _Earlier, at the Maverick Hunter HQ..._

X and Alia have just finished watching Zero's confrontation with Shield Sheldon and High-MAX, along with seeing him get forced inside of Isoc's containment field. Though Zero had prompted X to go after the last Investigator, he could not just leave his friend behind in case trouble arose. And with Zero trapped, X looked at Alia and asked, "Are you sure there's nothing we can do?"

Alia, in the midst of performing a wide-scale scan of the containment field to double-check her own assessment, could only offer X a perplexing sigh and a remark of, "I'm afraid so X. Isoc's field is too well-built for even me to decipher."

She then twisted her chair back and leaned her head up, "Besides, we have to stick to the plan. Zero wouldn't want you to worry about him over the mission."

"...You're right," X nodded his head, "The last Investigator is Infinity Mijinion. Once I defeat him, then all that's left..."

"Is to stop Gate..." Alia looked away with head hung low and fingers gripped tight enough to leave the rest of her arm shaking.

"Alia, I..."

"No need to coddle me anymore X...We're not just doing this for everyone else's sake, but his too..." Alia faced her laptop and placed a steady pair of hands over it to begin typing coordinates. After a drawn out sigh, she whispered in a more spunky voice, "I'll keep an eye on Zero, just in case. You head on over to the weapons facility that Infinity Mijinion is holed up in."

As X turned away with a nod, Alia warned him, "But be careful. Knowing Mijinion, he's probably created something terrifying in the time he's been revived."

Halfway to the door, the whole building was suddenly shaken by an incredible tremor. X braced himself on the ground and turned back, dashing straight at Alia as she was thrown off her chair. He slid along the ground and caught her right as the tremors stopped. He then quickly pushed up and placed her on the chair, where after a blank stare towards X she shifted her head right back at the laptop with a nervous twitch in her eyes.

"Ummm...thank you X." Alia murmured.

X had failed to noticed her evasiveness as he looked out the window and commented, "That energy...I could feel it from here."

The two went silent, with X slowly motioning his hands in front of the waist and gripping his right fingers around the wrist. His body was trembling as traces of that powerful energy washed over him like a flurry of electric snowflakes. Only when his grip tightened was he was able to stop, upon which he glanced over at Alia and said in a firm, confident voice, "I'll make this quick."

He then sprinted straight for the teleporter room without taking even a second to pause and think. But as he landed on the device in question, Alia contacted him in haste, _"I noticed we're in possession of all the parts for the Blade Armor. Do you want me to equip it to you before you depart?"_

"Go right ahead." X propped up his dour mood with an approving smile, then stood completely frozen in place as the teleporter was modified to transfer the armor's data over his body. Though the Nightmare Incident had been occurring over the course of a day, it had felt so long since X had gotten the first of these armor parts from Dr. Light. According to him, this armor would amplify his control over the Z-Saber, allowing him to become just as much of a master of wielding it as Zero.

But X knew there was no way to match perfection. What Zero did with the Z-Saber was like watching a blade of glass glide gently across the surface of serene waters, never once finding itself weighed down. Compared to that, X's blade was a stone.

After reflecting upon his thoughts, X felt the flow of data disappear, and knew right away that his armor was different. It was sleeker and more refreshing than the Falcon Armor, with a smell of newly made steel. When it came to design, there wasn't much separating the two armors beyond the aerodynamic wings and helmet being replaced with sharper, more protective shoulders and a thin, slightly curved "V" emblem placed against his forehead.

Winking twice, X looked back and noticed that the Z-Saber was gone, but as he reached for it with his right hand he noticed that it was now in a permanent buster state with four retracted prongs around the barrel. Holding it out before the chest, he activated the buster with but a thought, and a perfectly solid blade of blue light as long as his arm shot out.

Staring in awe of the blade for a few seconds, X retracted it and placed the arm by his hip before remarking, "Alright. I'm good to go. Sorry to keep you waiting."

" _Not a problem. Activating transporter...now!"_ With Alia's chiming in, X was warped off in an instant to another new location in the world. He arrived at the top of a slanting pathway overlooking a towering, cylindrical chamber, whose edges appeared to be made up of a constantly rising spiral of gear teeth.

"This is a weapons facility?" X asked while taking the first steps down the slope.

" _Not just any weapons facility. Some of the most powerful weapons in the world have been built in this location, including the Final Weapon."_

"Doesn't look like they'd have been able to create anything here. All I see are these strange gears in the distance..."

" _Those are the power generators X. By keeping this construct in a state of perpetual motion, they are able to greatly increase the output of construction for their weapons in the other buildings surrounding this one."_

"I see. No wonder Infinity Mijinion chose this place to 'investigate'," X paused for a second and then asked, "So you said before that he might be working on a dangerous weapon? What was he like before?"

" _Very brilliant, but also rude and reckless. Gate created him to test gigantic manned weapons, since his body was created in such a way that he could easily process machinery with capabilities equal to and rivaling supercomputers. However, his genius came with an incredible arrogance, and he'd often ignore the data he acquired. After he'd put his associates in danger more than enough times to count, one of his tests was sabotaged on purpose to destroy him."_

"Sounds to me like he was actually dangerous," X remarked with a surprisingly low degree of sympathy, "No wonder Gate revived him."

" _Actually, it doesn't make any sense...Even Gate couldn't keep Infinity Mijinion under control. I have no idea why he'd have chosen to bring him back now..."_

"That's something to ask him later." X then continued to move forward, but with only a couple steps the massive contraption suddenly grinded to a halt and the light shut right off. X's body lit up dimly as he froze in place, waiting to see if things would return to normal.

A beam of light was cast upon him, signaled by a pale yellow gleam in the darkness beyond. The ground then began to tremble violently, heralding the arrival of something gargantuan. X held his footing and turned towards the source of light with an unflinching resolve, right as the vast darkness began to fade.

X reeled his buster back and grit his teeth with widened eyes as the scale of his opponent became apparent. Floating in the very center of this construction was an orange and purple titan whose fingers alone dwarved X in size. The machine had a build similar to the humanoid kinds of Reploids, but with a cone shaped head and a visor for eyes. The shadow the titan cast stretched out for a hundred feet along the path, with X in the dead center of it.

The mere act of the machine moving it's hands up made the path tremble, and the glimmer of it's eyes caused X's body to quiver just a bit. When the titan moved no further, X was startled by a gasp from Alia.

" _N-No way?! Infinity Mijinion finished constructing Illumina?!"_

"Illumina?"

" _So, you arrived at last, Maverick Hunter! Hmph...! Figures that I'm left cleaning up after the others messes_ _ **once AGAIN**_ _."_ A shrill but haughty voice echoed out from the titanic machine.

"That voice..." X stared out at the machine and exclaimed as loud as he could, "Infinity Mijinion! Show yourself!"

" _Don't tell me what to do, Maverick Hunter! You're just a target for my greatest creation to practice on!"_

" _Are you out of your mind Mijinion?! Everyone told you that Illumina was too dangerous of a weapon to finish making!"_ Alia suddenly yelled out.

" _I don't recall asking for the opinions of a traitor! And besides, look at her! She's beautiful! An exemplary display of power and craftsmanship, all rolled up into a single towering package!"_

" _All that power requires energy. The projections said that using Illumina would require draining an entire city's worth of enegry just to get it running for more than a couple minutes!"_

" _Well then it's a good thing that stubborn louse Gate can be useful at times, now isn't it? Without emotions, my precious darling is no worse for the wear after being exposed to the Nightmare Virus. In fact...I'd say she's even more powerful than my calculations predicted!"_

" _Enjoy your triumph for now Mijinion! X is going to make your dreams come toppling down!"_

Upon hearing that, X widened his eyes and remarked, "I'd like to stop this thing Alia, but..."

Leaning his head back until the back of his helmet was past his shoulders, X cracked a dry grin and told her, "I don't think I have enough firepower to put a dent in that thing."

" _You don't? Awww, isn't that a_ _ **pity**_ _? Unfortunately for you..."_

Illumina stirred to life, holding it's hands yards apart before the chest to focus energy through the funnel near it. In a second, the titan was able to fire off a chain-blast of fuzzy light spheres in X's general direction. The Hunter leapt further down the slope and landed with a roll, turning back to watch as the attack atomized the entire platform he was on, leaving not even a scrap of metal behind.

" _My darling Illumina has firepower to spare! Now! Do your duty my dear...and wipe that gnat from the face of the Earth!"_

Without pause, the machine fired another attack off, only this time raising it a little higher to give X less room to breathe. The Hunter vaulted away backwards, floating in the air for a good few seconds during his descent while pivoting his gaze towards the titan.

"I hope you have a plan of attack here Alia..."

" _I'm pulling up Illumina's specs right now. Just hold out for a couple moments."_

"I'll try my best..." X grunted with slight annoyance as his land was stuck with a slide, followed by him looking towards the mighty machine with a narrow glare. It swerved it's body just a bit to keep pace, then fired off another attack.

X swung his buster hand out and summoned the blade to his beck and call, and with just a little bit of luck by his side he managed to cleave the projectile down the center.

" _Hmph! Not bad...but lets see how you handle her attacks once she cranks up the juice!"_ At Mijinion's command, Illumina's chest glowed even brighter than before, the expanse of the light encompassing the area below the shoulders and right above the waist. The projectile it launched was one-and-a-half times bigger, but with the energy compressed to increase it's speed.

X didn't take any risks and dashed out of the way, then kept on running down the slope with his buster aimed at the titan, forgetting for a second that he couldn't use it for his charged shot. After pulling the buster back in to his chest he exclaimed urgently, "Have you found anything yet Alia?!"

" _Yes! Keep moving forward X and you'll run into a massive wire that's connected to the generator."_

X swung his head forward while still keeping a bead on Illumina, and found that Alia's analysis was on-point. Indeed, a giant wire dangled over the platform towards the ever-moving spiral, and appeared to be siphoning energy from it to fuel Illumina through it's feet.

"Say no more. I'm on it!" X picked up the pace and swung his sword out, leaping straight at the red glass binding the wire in place. He sliced at it with a clean curved cut, but could not breech his target. X bounced back, shifting his head to the left right as another blast came flying his way. Ducking back just in the nick of time, X landed with his weight now thrown off, and took a couple seconds to reposition himself.

" _Gah! You're a pesky little gnat aren't you?! Fine...Illumina, switch to rapid-fire mode! Don't let him attack that wire!"_

The energy in Illumina's chest died down, but the projectiles now came out twice as fast as before. And worst of all there were no pauses in-between each shot, leaving X constantly on the move as he tried to come up with a plan of attack. Fortunately for him the titan didn't chip away at his footing with it's onslaught, but it was only a matter of time before a stray shot knocked him right off the edge.

" _If I just give it my all, I should be able to break the wire."_ X squinted his eyes and narrowed in on the glass, then once he leapt back from a projectile he sprinted right on ahead and leapt straight for it. But another projectile launched in his path, forcing him to drop right away or suffer complete disintegration.

" _You stay away from there!"_ Mijinion screamed, sounding like a parent berating a wild child.

" _No good. He's locked onto my movements..."_ X flipped back out of the way of a couple shots and smashed his feet into the ground for a landing. With the distance from his target growing larger, X began to look deep within himself for an answer to his problem. Connecting to the armor he wore as though it was his natural skin, X analyzed all it's functions in a couple seconds, all while dealing with the pressure of his surroundings.

Then, widening his eyes with a sharp focus straight ahead and nowhere else, X leapt into the air and performed a dash right towards the path of another projectile. But as he neared the edge of it, his body froze and shifted straight up in an instant, causing the energy inside his boots to gather up until they were set to burst.

Closing his eyes, X swung his arm up before the chest and summoned the blade. The sound of it's emergence was quiet like the wind, and X began to feel like it was an extension of his body instead of a separate object. Taking in a quick breath, X didn't care for the projectile flying his way as he shot through the air at mach speed and punctured through the wire like a bullet. His blade carved up his target along the way with a single slash, decimating it's structure and sending the pieces sliding off into the abyss.

The energy surged back into Illumina's body as the wire attached to it's left foot snapped right off like a tree branch, causing the titan to light up so bright that X had to turn away to avoid being blinded.

" _What?! Impossible! How could you damage my darling?!"_ Mijinion's pride took a mortal wound that he would surely never recover from, flaring his rage to astronomical degrees, _"PAY HIM BACK TENFOLD ILLUMINA! Show him how strong you truly are!"_

Illumina unscrewed it's own head and flew over to X's location, carrying with it a set of three drones aimed at his general direction. Illumina fired a harmless tracking beam from it's eyes that tapped the top of X's helmet. But the moment it did so, the drones targeted him and fired their own piercing blue beam in an interlocking pattern.

X was struck by the three lasers before he could even leap, causing his body to be fried by a heat nearly as unbearable as lava for at least two seconds. Gritting his teeth to endure the pain, X was dropped to the ground with scorch marks marring his armor and making the white parts look as grey as smoke.

" _Hahaha! How do you like that?! That's just a taste of what Illumina's capable of!"_

X coughed out a puff of smog and then leapt at one of the drones, trying to cut it down. But in the blink of an eye the drone flew out of the way, going high into the sky to ensure it could not be hit at all. Illumina's gaze then focused in on X's once more, forcing him on the move right as the beams fired.

" _X, there's one more wire to worry about. Just keep moving and you'll find it soon!"_ Alia remarked.

Illumina's assault was more powerful than before, but also seemed easier to dodge once X had experienced it's power for the first time. Keeping up his agility and precise leaps in conjunction with one another, X was able to evade every attack and make it to the next wire, much to the growing frustration of Mijinion.

" _Grrrrhhh! Fall back! Fall back! It's time to unleash your ultimate defense!"_ Illumina's head flew back and screwed into the neck while each of its pointer fingers were detached from the hands. X tried to same manuever he did before on the wire, but then the girthy finger came slamming down in his path to act as a wall. X's blade couldn't penetrate through and he recoiled back twenty feet into a second wall, both of which opened up four segments complete with their own laser cannons.

The remainder of Illumina's hands returned to collecting energy for projectile fire, diligent in it's attempt to overwhelm X with a flood of energy from all directions. X braced his feet on the ground and called his blade to action, building up energy within his boots to perform quick mach speed dashes to evade Illumina's assault. The lasers on the finger walls began to fire only when he was in front of them, but came out with the same speed and power as what the drones were capable of.

X spun around and, when combined with his quick bursts of speed, allowed him to swing his blade with even greater power than before to slice through the lasers. He also made sure to time his swings so the edge of his blade would slice apart at least one of the laser cannons to give him more room to breathe.

Ducking underneath the second lowest lasers and sprinting forward, X rose up with an uppercutting slash to slice up through the center of two cannons. He then stuck to the wall and focused on the other side, where three more laser cannons were preparing to fire.

Squinting his eyes, X leapt off the wall and cupped his hands around the buster as the projections spread apart like a cross and glowed bright. With a mighty roar X channeled his inner energy into the blade and let loose a gigantic wave reminiscent of Zero's own technique, which sliced through not just the wall, but the wire behind it. Split in twine with the center of them generating blistering heat, the two obstacles collapsed into the abyss.

X landed and glanced back as the other wall blew up in a spectacular fashion, followed up by the energy surging in full force into Illumina's entire body. The reaction was far more violent and bright than before, with X feeling the heat radiating off from the titan's body as it's limbs ruptured through many deafening explosions, culminating in the machine being unable to support it's own weight and getting dragged down into the abyss like a mighty battleship.

" _NO! No no nooooooooozzzzzzz...!"_ Mijinion's reaction to the demise of his creation was cut short by the radio exploding and releasing a burst of sharp static skyward, which barely made it to X's audio receptors before the entire titan crashed and broke apart on the ground far below.

X watched over its demise for a few brief moments and then turned forward. There were two things remaining along the path ahead. An elevator that could only go downward, and a Dr. Light capsule that surely was not there a moment ago.

" _Good work X. I knew you could do it!"_ Alia offered her utmost praises.

"It was all thanks to your warnings Alia. Now all that's left is to hunt down Infinity Mijinion." X remarked as he strolled towards the capsule.

" _Right. I've been able to lock onto his signature. He's somewhere at the bottom of this facility. Be careful X, he may be smart, but he's no doubt also been programmed to be a capable fighter."_

"I'll be fine." X assured her as he stopped in front of the capsule, which opened right up to reveal the doctor, who looked mildly perturbed.

"Doctor Light...what's wrong?"

The doctor's brows twitched as he perked his head up and looked X in the eyes, _"Oh X...Forgive me, my mind must have wandered off for a moment there."_

"You're worried about something."

" _Only the usual things X...Our world feels more on the brink of annihilation than it ever has before."_

"It has something to do with those tremors, doesn't it?"

" _Ah, you felt them too...A disturbance in the planet's energy. I can only pray that our world can survive this terrible event..."_

"I have faith in Shina." X remarked with an undaunting smile that lasted but a moment.

"Right now...I'm more worried about Gate." X raised his buster up and summoned the blade.

"This armor is incredible doctor...and I'm sure the Shadow Armor is too..." Dispelling the blade, X laid out his concerns with a stern glare forward, "But something tells me Gate's going to be tougher than any foe I've faced before. Even Sigma."

" _...Hrrmmm..."_ Dr. Light dropped his head in thought for a couple seconds, murmuring out with his mind in sync with X's, _"Yes, yes...I understand X."_

He then opened his eyes and gestured his right hand out, _"Step onto the capsule and I'll give you everything you need."_

X got on with just a couple steps, accepting the flow of data into his body like always. But this time, there was a lot more data to process, and as though he was standing under a cold waterfall his mind became calm and devoid of all excess thoughts.

When the process was finished, X went beyond the capsule and began heading for the elevator. The hologram appeared behind him one last time, and without looking back the Hunter propped his buster up and said, "When this is over...I'll make sure to return it."

Dr. Light closed his eyes and smiled as X entered the elevator, the door sliding shut as he whispered, _"Do us all proud...My son."_

X went to the center of the elevator and was shaken by the start of its descent. There was no visibility of what was happening outside, so all he could do is hold his buster up in case of an ambush. He steadied his body and awaited the end of his journey down into the unknown depths with open arms. A minute passed, and the elevator ground to a halt nice and slow to avoid rattling it's solo passenger.

The door swung open, and X stepped out onto a solemn walkway overlooking the remains of Illumina which littered the bottom of the geared spiral. The light cast down from above deprived the machine of it's majesty, making it look no worse than brittle garbage.

After only a couple moments of observation, X was called out to by the same shrill voice he'd grown familiar with, only to his surprise they spoke with a delicate, slow tone of voice.

"You are a real _bastard_ , aren't you X?"

X swung his buster out and looked around as Mijinion continued to rant in an increasingly livid tone, "Do you know...just HOW long it'll take...for me to clean up this mess?! Months! Literal MONTHS! And this on top of dealing with the trouble those worthless FLEAS left for me?! Well no more games Maverick Hunter...! I shall teach you a lesson in humility right here! Right now!"

X kept looking, but could not find even a glimpse of his target. He raised a hand to the side of his head and remarked, "Alia? Is Mijinion capable of cloaking his body?"

"Cloaking my...?! Good grief...LOOK. DOWN!"

X lowered his head and to his surprise, a Reploid that stood only up to his waist stared him right back in the eyes. The creature was based on a water flea, his body as sleek as fresh morning dew while his small purple face was hidden behind a glass dome helmet. Inside of his body bubbled photocondutive material that made him give off a brighter appearance far greater than his size would suggest him capable of producing.

Pedaling his legs around to swim off the ground, Infinity Mijinion suspended in the middle of the room and stretched his arms out from side-to-side.

"It's not bad enough that you destroyed my precious darling, but you've gone and insulted my size too! Uuugh, you idiots are so bothersome to deal with...Always looking down on me like I'm some brainless lice mite! I am the greatest weapons manufacturer in the entire world, nay, the UNIVERSE, and I will not stop until my exploits are recognized as such!" His ranting bordered on self-indulgent boasting, and even X was left drooping his brows with a tired gaze in his eyes.

"Don't take that look with me Mr. 'Destroy indisCRIMINATELY!' Do you have nothing to say for yourself?!" Mijinion thrust his right hand out and twisted his eyes into a scornful glare.

"The weapons you've built are dangerous and untested Infinity Mijinion! If you're so intent on producing this kind of arsenal, then I have no choice but to label you a Maverick!" X swung the sword up and made sure the tip was aimed at Mijinion's face.

'Maverick? Me?! A Maverick?! You're the only Maverick around here!" Mijinion's face turned a hellish shade of red, and with a hammering clap of his hands together he began to clone himself. But he didn't just stop at one, or two. No, not even ten or twenty. He surrounded X with a hundred clones of himself, all of them a perfect, exact replica of his body.

"You may be able to handle one measly Reploid, but you don't a stand a chance against a hundred copies of the most brilliant minded Reploid to ever exist!" All the copies swung their hands out and began to create arrows of light before their palms. X closed his eyes and sighed, concentrating on the sound of Mijinion's boasting.

"Time to turn you into a pin cushion, Maverick Hunter!"

X widened his eyes and boosted into the sky straight ahead with the sword crossing before his chest. The arrows fired and struck his afterimage right as he delivered a single, precise slice upon his target. Mijinion widened his eyes as his midsection was split right open, the translucent juices gushing out onto the floor as his clones all vaporized into thin air.

"O-One...slice? ...How...how can this be...?" Mijinion collapsed onto the floor, the glass in his body shattering to pieces with his final expression being one of confusion.

X swiped his blade at the empty air as he turned around and commented, "Sorry, but I can't afford to hold back anymore."

He then walked up to his foe's fallen body and acquired both his power and the Nightmare Souls he yielded. Then, with a sigh of relief, he remarked upon the situation with a weight of realization that this was only the beginning, "Now all that's left is to find Gate and Isoc and put an end to the Nightmare Virus. Do you think our plan will work Alia?"

" _All we can do now is wait and see if he'll respond. For now, I'll bring you back to base and we'll see if we can get an idea of what's going on with Shina's situation."_

"Sounds good to me." X commented mere seconds before he was whisked away back to HQ...

 _Next Time: The Final Nightmare_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: The First and Final Nightmare**

With the Investigators all good and dealt with, X returned to base in hopes that Gate would respond to his creations once again facing destruction. However, he found his and Alia's patience tested when half-an-hour passed on without their communications system stirring in the slightest. Though left uneasy by his lack of a response, X decided to distract himself by having Alia send him off to the Investigators whose powers he had not yet picked up, knowing full well he'd want to give 100% against Gate.

Since the Reploids were dead, the teleporter relays were clear to warp X right to their corpses, meaning he acquired the remaining powers in a matter of minutes. His last stop was at Shield Sheldon's domain, where Zero's entrapment would soon come to an end. It was difficult to look at him all stiffened up like a statue inside of the barrier, where the Hunter's thoughts were the only thing that had accompanied him for the last hour.

When the barrier's time had come to an end, it vanished so fast it was like it had never been there to begin with. Zero then plummeted to the ground on his feet, his balance tipped forward with his body looking groggy. Luckily for him, X was right there to help prop him back up, greeting him with a much needed smile.

"How are you holding up Zero?" X backed off and let Zero catch his breath, where the Hunter proceeded to bite his teeth down and scoff.

"Damn it! He's going to pay for trapping me in there!"

"Zero..." X let out an empathetic murmur.

"Oh, X..." Zero lifted his head up to glance at his friend, looking a mite embarrassed as he diverted his attention away for a moment. After a couple seconds passed he coughed and crossed his arms.

"So, did everything go according to plan?" He inquired.

"Well the world didn't end. I guess that means Shina was successful." X responded.

"You guess?" Zero said with a slow turn of the head back.

"We haven't heard a word from her since she left. Nor have we heard anything from Gate since we defeated his last Investigators."

"Hmph...he's probably tending to his wounded proud after I dealt with his so-called 'Ultimate Reploid'."Zero gestured his right hand out beside the face with an air of nonchalance.

"Maybe...but it has me woried." X lowered his head, only for it to be forced back up when Zero knicked him on the chin with his right knuckles.

"Don't worry about it. When he decides to show his face, we'll deal with him appropriately."

"Of course!" X gave a stern and confident smile back to his friend, and after a little bit of clean up the two returned to base to continue the arduous wait for Gate's response.

After another half-an-hour had passed, the Hunters received an alert coming from their front door. Alia scrambled to answer the signal by checking the cameras, and found Shina standing there begging pleasantly to be let in while continuing to cradle Alex in her arms. With a lean back into her chair and a relieved sigh, Alia threw a finger over the appropriate key and tapped down to open the doors.

Shina rushed inside and made for the elevator to get up to her allies' location. Their reunion was brief for the moment, as Shina was more concerned getting Alex somewhere to rest. Alia suggested he be brought to the capsule Shina had been resting in, so with X acting as her vanguard they headed on over there lickity-split.

Alex breathed out a heavy sigh as he was laid against the firm, cold capsule cushion with his arms resting atop his bare stomach. His eyes remained only halfway open and stared up at the ceiling, while his breathing remained steady. After observing him for a few seconds, X faced Shina and commented, "It doesn't look like he's infected anymore."

"Yeah. He shouldn't be, now that I plucked this outta him." Shina propped up the artifact piece proudly beside her chest and winked with a chuckle.

"I'm just glad you two made it back safely." X smiled back.

"Safe...but ex-HAUSTED! Whew...!" Shina slumped her whole body forward and deflated herself with a prolonged sigh. Lifting herself with a bit of exertion, she glanced aside and said, "I reckon I've earned my fifty winks by now..."

"Go right ahead and rest. Zero and I can handle Gate." X spoke with assuring confidence.

Shooting right up with a swift shake of the head, Shina blurted out in a haste, "I can handle a couple more scuffles!"

"You sure?" X raised his brows and was a little taken aback by the energy in her voice.

"Of course! Alex may be fine and dandy, but I'm still gonna stick this out to the end! That's what it means to be a Maverick Hunter, right?"

"Heh, glad to hear that." X swung his right hand up and the two shook on their mutual desire to save the world.

" _X! Shina! Return to the command center immediately!"_ Alia's voice rang out through the intercom with urgency, then disappeared into silence.

"Looks like Gate's ready to finish this." X's glare went cross, and he turned and made his way right for the door.

"I'll catch up in a minute X!" Shina blurted out with hands cupped around the mouth as he ran out of sight. She then twisted her upper body back and hovered her hands out before the waist, watching as Alex continued to remain stationary.

His skin looked as pristine as a newborn's, but his muscles were pretty well-defined for someone his age. Clearly, being an Elemental Overlord came with some perks that she hadn't even thought of considering until now. The longer she stared, the redder her face got, and her eyes began to glaze over. Twisting her head away, she walked backwards to the capsule and ripped Alex's blade free from the hoist on her back, then dropped it flat on his midsection without even a glance over the shoulder.

"H-Here ya go...This'll probably help you recover." She jerked her arm back and ended up slapping the lump bulging out the side of her pants pocket. Reaching in, she pulled out the Gaia Temporis and stared at it with her wide-eyed embarrassment for a good few seconds before Alex's voice broke her attention with a weak murmur.

"Hey...what...what are you doing with that?"

"Oh...t-this?" Shina closed her eyes and steadied her twitching body with a deep gulp, "It was found next to your sword."

"Was it? ...Was wondering why 'he' didn't use it..." Alex closed his eyes and heaved his chest as far out as it could be pushed, only for it to retract with him breaking out in a violent cough.

Shina squirmed a little at the dry, wretching sounds he made that tore his body up from within, but ended up reassured a little when Alex eased himself and groaned a quiet, defiant, "...Shit."

As she laid the Gaia Temporis down beside his sword, Shina looked Alex in the eyes and begged to him firmly, "Don't push yourself too hard, ok?"

"What? And spit in the face of all your hard work? Not a chan-" Alex spoke too fast, and erupted into coughs once more. Shina backed off as droplets of spit flew right into her face, waiting for his fit to subside. When it was over he laid his head flat on it's side and closed his eyes with a sigh.

"...Don't you need to go?"

"Oh! Right!" Shina widened her eyes and tightened her fists up next to her chest, nodding her head before she spun around and dashed straight out the door, yelling back as she did, "Wish me luck Alex!"

"...Like you'll need it." Alex sighed. Then, with a peek over his left shoulder, he began to wiggle his fingers around to move the Gaia Temporis off his body. It landed at his hip straight down from his line of sight, where he proceeded to give it a weak glare. With a muted grumble, he closed his eyes and turned his head to the opposite side to rest.

Back in the command center, X rushed through the door and joined Zero and Alia in front of the holographic projector. Not only had it been hijacked to project Gate's entire body within the spherical space, but all the windows in the room were now covered up by close-ups of his face.

In spite of how grandiose and intrusive his entrance was, Gate greeted the Maverick Hunters with a smirk and a calm, polite air to his demeanor.

" _So...not only have you destroyed all eight of my Reploids, but you managed to fend off High-MAX as well. You really are a_ _ **fascinating**_ _pair of robots, aren't you...X? Zero?"_

"Gate..." Alia murmured as she clutched her laptop close to the chest and stared up with a lifeless gaze.

"You're the one behind the Nightmare Virus? Took you long enough to come out of hiding, Gate!" Zero exclaimed, itching for a fight.

Gate spread his arms out and leaned his head back, projecting a strong presence of haughtiness from his body, _"Ha! Now who ever said I was hiding? I got plenty of data on the two of you and didn't even have to dirty my hands."_

Zero swung his fist up at the projector and exclaimed, "Don't try and play innocent, Maverick! The lives of dozens of Reploids are on your hands!"

" _All I've done is help guide the world towards a brighter future...A world where the weak are gone and the strong lay claim to all that remains. It's not my fault that those Reploids didn't have what it takes to survive the culling."_

"Just because some Reploids are weak, doesn't make them worthless." X spoke up in a calm but firm voice.

" _Oh? Well...that's where our perspectives will have to differ, X."_ Gate smirked, but for a moment his expression raised with intrigue.

"Gate, are you really that blind to how damaged the world is?" Alia inquired with a heartful plea.

" _Alia..."_ Gate's mood instantly turned sour as he shifted his gaze her way, but with a smile he closed his eyes and said, _"My desire to help the world is genuine. Why any of you would defend those cowards valued less than trash is beyond me."_

"We need all the help we can get to put this world back together. Now is not the time for us to be turning against each other." X replied, his faith unwavering.

" _That much I can agree on..."_ Gate opened his eyes and tucked his hands back, looking straight into X's determined face. Staring back for just a bit, X felt he was examining a twisted reflection of himself. Gate was nothing but honest in his words, and his resolve to make his dream a reality was unbreakable.

" _Right now, Reploids AND humans need a leader to guide them towards a brighter future. They won't be satisfied being spoon-fed your optimism, X...They need someone strong! Someone with intelligence and a vision!"_

"What they don't need is your nightmares twisting their minds and forcing them to suffer in paranoia and fear of each other!" X yelled out, causing Gate's eyes to twitch and his lips to scowl.

"Every Reploid has value, even if they don't believe it. As long as we guide them with trust between one another, then we can help them realize their full potential, and build a foundation for a better world." X laid a hand against his chest and stared unflinching into Gate's face, which began to twist up with a larger scowl that left him trembling.

" _Trust..."_ Gate grumbled to himself, lowering his head and biting his teeth together while his hands could be heard tightening behind him.

" _Hehehe..."_ Brandishing a hand up to brush the side of his face with an ease of mind to his behavior, Gate tucked his hands into his coat pockets and said, _"I guess it's a waste of time to wax rhetoric with a pair of blind dogs."_

Tightening his smirk as he swung his head down to look upon his company, Gate spoke out with abounding confidence, _"X...Zero...Outsider..."_

X and Zero glanced back and saw that Shina had just entered the room, where she ran up with her gaze staring up at Gate's eyes.

" _We'll settle this conflict once and for all in my lab. I have already hacked into your teleporter system and set the coordinates to the entrance, but it's up to you to make your way inside. And I promise...Unlike Sigma, I shall NOT give you an easy time."_

"Fine. We'll do things your way. We're not going to lose to you, Gate!" Zero exclaimed.

" _I'll_ _ **relish**_ _the experience, God of Destruction!"_ Shaking his head back, Gate deactivated his connection to the command center. Alia pulled her laptop right out and widened her eyes the moment she opened it.

"This can't be right..."

"What's wrong Alia?" X asked.

"The coordinates...They lead right to the Eurasia Crash Site!" Alia turned the laptop around for the others to see.

"The Crash Site..." Zero murmured, closing his eyes in contemplation while X looked at him.

"You're thinking the same thing I am, aren't you Zero?"

"Yeah...It makes sense now how Gate and Isoc were able to easily execute the start of their plan." Zero commented.

"I'm just wondering when they had the time to construct a laboratory..." Shina puckered her lips and crossed her arms under the chest.

"Who knows. It could've been right under our noses the whole time." X remarked.

"Well not for much longer. We'll dismantle it and Gate's ambitions for goodl!" Zero exclaimed with a swing of his fist forward. X and Shina brought their fists up to clang them together, echoing his determination with a cry of "Yeah!"

The trio faced the door and began their march to battle. Alia watched their backs with a trembling hand held tight against her chest. She had watched this scene play out once before, but only now was she afraid. With a hard blink, she flung herself forward and yelled before the doors could seal her voice off from her comrades, "Wait!"

X stopped and peered over his shoulder, then turned around in a couple steps as she lifted her panting head up and said with all her heart, "Promise you'll return, ok?"

"Don't worry. We'll all make it back." X smiled and immediately turned his head around, noticing that Zero was looking at him rather funny along the way. The robot blinked a couple times then crossed his arms and kept his lips sealed as they made their way to the teleporter room.

When the door was shut, Alia hung her head and squeezed her laptop against her chest, murmuring a confession full of regret, "Because...I love you, X."

X felt his body shiver as he stepped onto the teleportation capsule with the others, and as Shina questioned if he was alright he laid a hand around his buster and breathed in a deep sigh. Then he nodded his head and tried to clear his mind for battle. The trio departed for their destination, hopefully for the final time.

Night had fallen upon the Crash Site, but something seemed irregular about the atmosphere. The debris hadn't just broken, but parts of it looked like they had been melted off without a trace. The ground was ruptured, with many of the cracks leading to a hole in the ground right where the trio had landed. Zero took the first steps forward, pressing on the ground as hard as he could with his heels.

He had to slow down pretty quick, as the ground threatened to destabilize. With a glance back at Shina he asked, "What the hell happened here?"

"Alex's other personality musta been drawing energy from the Crash Site." She replied on the spot.

Zero just blinked a couple times and swung his left hand up, closing his eyes and whispering, "I'll just pretend I understood that."

He then snapped his fingers out and waved his way, "Be careful you two...who knows what kind of traps Gate has planned for us."

With a perfect idea of how the ground felt, Zero made swift and gentle hops over to the edge of the hole with X tailing close behind. Shina, however, made the wise decision to glide across. The three then gathered, hovering over an abyss leading into darkness.

" _There's a lot of static getting in the way...I'm afraid our transmission is going to be cut once you head into the lab."_ Alia murmured.

Zero looked at X as he drew the Z-Saber and said, "Ready to go X?"

X ignited his own blade through the buster and gave a firm hard nod, looking up and left at Shina, "How about you Shina?"

She activated her Gunslinger Drive and spun the pistol around in her hands for a bit, then threw a wink X's way with a perky comment of, "Ready and rarin'!"

" _...Good luck."_ Alia whispered as the three vaulted off the edge in unison. Their sharp descent was halted by a sudden landing upon a metallic, grated walkway leading to a bright, inviting complex in the distance. The three checked their communicators, and were assaulted with a quiet static sound.

"We're on our own..." Shina whispered.

"We'll be fine." Zero was the first to head to the entrance, but the other two lagged only a couple feet behind. Their first impression of Gate's lab was one of surprise, as he had managed to piece together a rather impressive display of his brilliance for them to bear witness to.

The walls were made up of data processors with glowing lines indicating the constant, consistent flow of information into the massive cybernetic mainframe in the background. The walls were also lined with pure gold, either for flourish, or as a testament to how egotistical Gate was. The most baffling décor, however, was the chrome statue being propped up by a mangled wall of rune etched cubes. The statue had the head and horns of a dragon, but the rest of the body was that of a humans', while the wings on its back didn't even have the membranes necessary for flight.

Its red eye gleamed in the trio's direction, and Zero gripped his blade tighter as he pondered, "Think that's an enemy?"

"No, it looks like there's a camera inside the head." X responded, lowering his buster down to the waist, "He's watching us."

"Hey guys, check this out." Shina directed their attention just a little bit ahead, where the walls and platforms leading upward seem to be lined with nothing but spikes.

"Spikes? Great, looks like we're not going through this way." Zero commented with a grumbling sigh.

"Hate to break it to ya, but there's nowhere else _to_ go." Shina spun around and looked in all directions, then stopped to shrug her shoulders.

"Well, then try covering the platforms with your aura." He suggested.

"That'd definitely do the trick!"

"Save your energy Shina. I got a better idea." X walked past her and looked up at the spikes.

"You've got something in your arsenal that can tackle spikes now?" Zero inquired with his arms folded in patience.

"...Something like that." X looked back with a smile and then closed his eyes, concentrating on the power deep inside his body to unleash something new and wonderful. In the blink of an eye, his armor was replaced by a sleek black suit that fit tight around his particular frame. On a tiny portion of his chest was a metallic grate meant to replicate fishnet armor, while his helmet grew a backwards horn and covered his mouth with a thin onyx plate.

Looking over his body for a little while, including giving his hands a couple gentle squeezes, X commented in a muffled voice, "So this is the Shadow Armor."

"Wow, you look like a real ninja now X!" Shina exclaimed, trying her best to hold back the glee in her voice.

"I do?" X blinked a couple times her way.

"So this'll help you get past the spikes?" Zero, however, remained focused.

"That's what my heart's telling me," X confided in confidence, then flashed a tiny smile Zero's way and said, "Wait right here, I'll be right back."

X faced the wall of spikes behind him and bent down. Sprinting faster than the naked eye could perceive, he left the ground behind and stuck to the wall, which couldn't even penetrate through his palms. He then zipped between the platforms to the other wall and kept scaling his way to the top, making an utter joke of this daunting gauntlet.

Once there, X flipped back and stuck his feet to the ceiling, aiming his new jagged edged buster down at the platforms while yelling to his comrades, "Get out of the way!"

Squinting his right eye shut, X fired a volley of razor sharp gold shuriken that sliced apart the platforms below nice and clean. The dislodged parts slid off and fell all at once to the ground in a crumbled heap, leaving Shina and Zero to tend to the dust. X then swung his right hand down and exclaimed, "Ok Shina, throw me a rope!"

"Ah, I see now!" Shina locked her pistols away at the hips and spread her legs back a little, spinning her right hand around and around as a lasso of aura began to form in her grasp.

"Clever plan there X..." Zero smiled as he whispered to himself.

Once the lasso was thrown straight up, Shina waited until the hoop floated around X's wrist to lock the rope into place with a hard tug. Then while Zero climbed his way up, Shina flew up the ledge and waited for them to finish. With a bit of teamwork and some careful swinging, Zero and X were able to join her in a couple of seconds.

"If that was just the first obstacle, I can't imagine what else Gate's got planned for us." Shina sighed.

"We've still got a secret weapon on our side." X remarked, turning to look at a puzzled Shina with a finger pointed at her face.

"Huh? Me?" Shina fluttered her eyes a few times and pointed up at her chin.

"Gate shouldn't have had the time to modify his lab to accommodate for your powers." Zero remarked.

"Well in that case, I'll do my best!" Shina nodded with a smile.

The three turned around to face the path ahead, finding that it descended into a slope covered in ice with a couple of gaps in-between. Not just that, but there were some laser projectors attached to the ceiling along the way.

"Those look like the devices from the shield defense facility. Its a trick meant to make us tense up, X." Zero bemoaned.

"I'm not so sure about that." X raised his right hand and created a shuriken, then flicked it like an arrow down the way. The lasers activated from their presence, but none of them could match the speed of their target and struck the ice. Some sizzling was heard, but only from a couple of the lasers.

"...Great, so only some of them are harmful." Zero brushed a hand out beside his shoulder and sighed.

"What's the plan of attack X?" Shina deferred to his judgment with great interest.

"We'll rush through and try not to get hit." X responded with a simple but baffling idea.

"Are you SURE that's wise?" Shina asked with a tilt of the head.

"It's better than trying to meticuously pick out which lasers are lethal and which ones are not. If we play this game the way Gate wants, we'll be the ones who'll lose." Zero pointed out.

"I'll take the lead. Lets go!" X hunched forward and waited for his allies to prep themselves to run with all they had. Then, like the wind, the Hunter barreled down the slopes without any concern for friction. The lasers stirred, but Zero and Shina managed to catch the tailwind of X's charge to speed their way past them.

They couldn't stop at the bottom though, as a laser fired along the floor at their feet. X shifted his head up and pointed to the sky right as he leapt into a crevice that split off into two paths. Shina and Zero took the left side while X went right to avoid crowding. The lasers fired off and tried to cross them off in the center of their paths, but with a swift leap ahead Shina clutched her arms against the sides of her body and held the lasers off with shields of aura.

Zero leapt in front of her and landed at the top of the wall splitting the two paths, taking a second to spin around and slice a crescent wave at the left laser cannon to destroy it. He then made haste to the right side above where X had gone, while Shina let the other laser push her onto the left path. The amount of lasers grew more hectic and left barely a millisecond to evade them.

But the end was fast approaching, so the trio held out just that tiny bit longer, dodging the final bombardment of lasers by the skin of their teeth as they slid onto the platform. After getting up and brushing the scuff marks off her legs, Shina looked at her fellow Hunters and said, "Gate really knows how to make an entrance..."

"Even experienced Hunters would've had trouble making it past all that," Zero remarked with his arms crossed, "If only he didn't try to use his genius to terrorize the world."

"If only..." X murmured.

"Did you say something X?" Zero inquired.

"Not at all," X shook his head and headed for the door in front of them, "Lets keep moving."

Zero squinted his eyes towards his backside for a bit then followed him and Shina through to the other side. They dropped down twenty feet into an empty room, and were greeted by a pair of statues on the sides. One was an exact replica of the statue they saw at the entrance, while the second one depicted a winged, headless warrior with arms as thin as twigs.

"I'm getting an eerie vibe from this place..." Zero said as he drew his sword at the hip and purveyed the room.

" _Badump..."_

Shina flinched from head-to-toe and glanced back at X, asking him with a whisper out the side of her mouth, "Did you hear that?"

"A...heartbeat?"

" _Badump...badump...badump..."_

Zero's face twitched and he turned his head back, following the sound of the heartbeat up to the ceiling where his eyes then grew as wide as bottlecaps.

"What the HELL is that?" Zero stumbled to turn his whole body around.

X and Shina looked up with a slow unease, and were immediately left staggering in disgust as they locked their eyes upon a dreadful sight. Molded into the ceiling like an overgrown patch of fungus was a creature that was neither corporeal or ethereal, but rested upon the fine line between them. Composed entirely of magnified DNA strands and atoms, this creature stirred with an electronic gurgle and a steady continuous heartbeat. Just the sight of its presence nailed fear into the hearts of the trio.

"The pressure is overwhelming...! It reminds me...it reminds me of the Nightmare Virus." X groaned as he tried to stop his body from shaking.

"That is because it is the progenitor of the virus, the Nightmare Mother." The familiar, stoic voice of High-MAX beamed into the room as he came floating down in the background with the assistance of his rocket feet. As he stalled in the very center of the room, Zero shook his head and closed his eyes.

"You again? I'm surprised Gate hasn't trashed you after your last failure."

"Your victory was a fluke opened by my ineffectual 'partner'. I am still the Ultimate Reploid." High-MAX boasted with pride.

"Excuses excuses," Shina spoke up, "Zero and I kicked your ass fair and square. Your title holds about as much water as a cup without edges!"

"Hmph, I shall prove how flawless I am soon enough. Gate will not need to waste his time entertaining you fleas..." High-MAX's body released steam as he hovered closer to his foes.

"So that thing on the ceiling...created the Nightmare Virus?" X looked straight up and then at High-MAX, who clenched his fists out beside his hips and stared with a staggering degree of aggression.

"It is perfection. The fruit of my master's tireless labors through his research of DNA."

"DNA? What the hell kind of DNA could he have researched to make that ugly blob?" Zero pressed his inquiry with a piercing glare.

High-MAX twisted his head a little towards Zero, then went back to facing X as he addressed him in anger, "That thing is an abomination that should be destroyed!"

"You will not be given the chance. Your lives end here Maverick Hunters, and I shall reign supreme as the Ultimate Reploid."

"Then quit talking and fight already!" Zero exclaimed as he gestured his sword up into the air.

High-MAX squinted his eyes and then swung his arms up, his body shooting out lightning in eight directions, each bolt compressed into a compact spherical form. He then pushed his hands out and sent the projectiles flying erratically at his foes.

The trio left the ground behind with a leap and headed for the walls, with Zero landing atop the headless statue while X and Shina clinged to their wall. Explosions blanketed the ground and left static lingering in its wake, but that did not deter Zero from lunging off the statue straight at High-MAX.

He gripped his Z-Saber tight and took a swing at the Reploid's head, only for High-MAX to twist his body around and pluck Zero right out of the air by the wrist. Then, after applying pressure throughout the rest of the arm, High-MAX dropped to the ground and slammed Zero against it.

X tossed out a few shuriken that clinged off High-MAX's backside but got his attention, giving the Hunter the precise opening he needed to shunt off the wall and attack with a quick draw of his Z-Saber. X passed by his target's neck as he delivered the slice, but failed to penetrate his hard exterior. Dropping straight to the ground as High-MAX was distracted, X wrenched Zero free and leapt away while Shina took over on the asault, nailing the Reploid with a pair of aura rockets to the face.

She dove through the smoke that lingered after and struck High-MAX with a blast of aura through her rocket boots, but in the midst of her repulsion High-MAX reached up and grabbed her by the leg. Pulling her down before his chest, he let go and replaced the strain of being tugged with a painful wallop sqaure in the face. His fist came out quick as a shotgun, and sent her smashing into the wall behind.

The impact ripped the wall apart with cracks going upward, stopping only once it reached the corner of the ceiling. Shina's head spun around a bit in a daze, and High-MAX came charging in to worsen the pain with an even harder punch. X zipped across the ground and leapt in it's path, grabbing around the knuckles with both his hands while spreading his legs so his feet would attach to the wall away from her body.

High-MAX fired his thrusters at full power, spewing fire into the air as he tried to press X into paste. X's knees trembled as the wall crumpled apart at the heels, with his legs spreading farther apart to the point of almost splitting in-between. The Hunter widened his eyes and began to push back, that tiniest of resistance being enough to make High-MAX's face twitch into a low scowl.

Zero dashed in from behind at that moment and leapt through the thruster flames to slice his back straight up, and though he failed to break through he persisted on the way down with a pinwheel spin of slashes. High-MAX gleamed back, his eyes brightening with a flash to indicate him responding to the assault with a barrage of projectiles erupting from his body.

Zero zipped away and slashed his blade out to cut down every strike, flashing a smirk through the lingering smoke once he had dealt with them all. Throwing his Z-Saber up in both hands and charging energy in the blade, Zero stood perfectly still in wait while X handled things on his end.

With a brief nod, X glanced back and saw Shina lying still in the crevice, but with a smile on her face. The Hunter then looked at High-MAX and vaulted off his hand to get overhead, letting his fists fly towards Shina's face. She widened her eyes and crossed her arms to block the punch with a thick wall of aura, albeit not without it pressing against her body full of cracks.

She swung her feet up and pounded High-MAX's abdomen with a flurry of rocket boosted kicks, blurting out 鄭TATATATATATATATA! as she slowly pushed the Reploid away. When there was too much of a gap for her kicks to reach, she pulled back and watched as X fired off a string of shuriken from his buster to distract High-MAX.

X then dove straight down and plucked one of the shuriken from the air, turning around right upon landing and dashing along the path he just traveled to strike High-MAX with a swift, precise slice across the body. Then, proceeding to zip around faster than lightning, X alternated between firing off shuriken and using them as makeshift blades against his foe.

High-MAX's eyes spun around, trying, desperate to peg down his target. But all he could see were streaks of blade and gold flying across the sky as the heated assault began to slowly but surely push him back. X performed hundreds of attacks in the blink of an eye, the sheer number providing the strength necessary to shove even this so-called unstoppable wall.

Soon X had forced High-MAX to the center of the room and bounced off him with a light kick, changing right into his Blade Armor as he landed.

You ready Zero? He asked as he swung his buster up and began to charge energy through his bladed buster.

Ready when you are X! Zero exclaimed, his Z-Saber's blade now stretched up to the ceiling.

High-MAX was frozen, draped in a field of static as the multitude of attacks took its toll on his body. With the light of two towering blades basking down upon him, the Ultimate Reploid widened his eyes and grit his teeth with a growl.

DOUBLE!

ITTOURYOUDAN!

In perfect sync X and Zero swung their blades down upon their foe, the energy splashing together against High-MAX's body and spreading out across the sky like an abstract painted canvas.

GrrrhhhhAAAAHHH! High-MAX roared, parting this beautiful sea of power with an eruption of air from his body. With his arms parted, the Reploid had surrounded himself with three thin crystal blue rings with symbols etched into them that made it look like the innards of a CPU.

My defenses are now absolute...Your chances of victory are zero. The Reploid levitated higher up and began to fire off a volley of energy balls in both directions, bombarding his foes with relentless fury.

X and Zero braced themselves and grunted as the attacks collided upon their bodies, giving them little time to fight back.

This isn't over yet! Zero declared as he curled his right fist back beside his head and bent towards the ground.

We're just getting started! X switched back over to the Shadow Armor and vaulted straight towards High-MAX, ramming point blank against his barrier.

Rekkoha! Zero smashed his fist into the ground and began to pelt High-MAX's barrier with a rain of light beams from the sky.

Enkourin! X floated in mid-air as three powerful spinning crescents emerged and spun around his body, grinding up against High-MAX's barrier to unleash a flurry of sparks.

High-MAX threw many more projectiles out as his foes, but they clung on their attacks even as their bodies were getting battered around from all sides. Gritting their teeth, the pressure of their assault began to chip away at the Reploid's barrier one little piece at a time.

The final push necessary to turn the tide of battle came from Shina, who stood behind X and launched a bombardment of tiny missiles that curved around his body and smashed against the brittle sides of the barrier. High-MAX bit his teeth down and doubled down on the onslaught of projectiles. But by the time he fought back harder, it was already too late.

His barrier smashed to shards of glass, and the combined efforts of his enemies' attacks overwhelmed his body like a tidal wave of overbearing heat and blades. Pressing the attack for only ten seconds, the trio backed off and watched as High-MAX collapsed to the floor on his knees. His legs were split down the center, his back burst open as his thrusters had been fried whole, and his arms grew heavy and limp at his sides. Only his head still functioned at full power, and with his neck crunching in resistance he gazed over at X.

Why...why can't I beat you? I've analyzed all of your data...My specs are superior...

There's more to being the strongest than having better specs. You need to have something that drives you, a cause worth fighting for. X responded calmly.

You're just a lapdog running errands for Gate, Zero commented as he walked behind High-MAX and steadied the Z-Saber behind his head ready to cleave his head from the shoulders, 添ou were always too weak to stop the three of us, cause you're just like any other Maverick.

We...ak...? High-MAX's eyes widened, and his body began to tremble. The indignation and disgust towards his enemies that had been welling up for a while now began to boil over, culminating in the Reploid's mouth rupturing apart as he let out a ghastly scream of, 的...AM THE STRONGEST REPLOID...THAT'S EVER LIVED!

Zero was left staggering by the howl, and in that brief moment High-MAX rose to his feet like a flaccid puppet and shot towards the ceiling. He burrowed his right fist straight into the tumorous Nightmare Mother, and the entire room began to quake as a flurry of space distorting lighting bolts erupted from their connection.

What is he doing?! Shina exclaimed in disbelief.

He's absorbing it... X murmured, his body stiffened in place.

High-MAX's body became enveloped in a gruesome violet light as the heartbeat of the monstrosity hastened to a deathly rate. When the very last atom of its being had been consumed, the heartbeat flatlined with a ear-grinding screech, forcing the trio to clamp their hands against their eardrums.

Still bathed in that hellish of glows, High-MAX descended to the center of the room with his body renewed, but transformed. His limbs were now built out of twisted, tightened strands of DNA, with bundled together atoms replacing the fingers. His chest and abdomen retained the same structure as before, but now had a tumor-like crack spread down from left shoulder to the right hip. And finally there was his bulbous head, which split open in the center to reveal a single, hollow eye with a dim red light acting as the pupil.

I am...the Ultimate Nightmare. I am...the Ultimate Reploid. I am the beginning of the world, I am the end of the world. Tremble in fear...For I am...Omega-MAX! The Reploid's voice shook the dimensions of the world to the core, and with but a wave of the hand it spawned a dozen Nightmare Viruses around its body.

Shina raised her weapons up at the vile machine, only for X to raise his left hand up and lower them down, his expression undaunted. Shina looked at him in bewilderment, then gazed upon the sight of Omega-MAX as he bellowed in glee.

Do you have anything to say now Maverick Hunters?! Or are you prepared to beg for mercy...?

Zero placed the Z-Saber on his back and shrugged his shoulders up with a sigh, 鏑ike I said before...you're just another weak Maverick.

Growling, Omega-MAX spun around and thrust his right hand up, demanding of his spawn, 鄭ttack him!

The viruses floated around with an empty gaze in their eyes and a lofty wiggling of their limbs. Omega-MAX growled louder and exclaimed, 的 am your master now! And I demand you attack!

The viruses stirred, but only to turn their bodies towards Omega-MAX. The Reploid stiffened up and swung his head around, 展-What do you think you're doing?

The viruses inched closer to his body, their squirming limbs burrowing their way into the Reploid's flesh and making him gasp out in pain, 鉄top! Stop I command you!

The viruses burrowed deeper and deeper, latching their entire bodies to his like flash-gnawing parasites. He squirmed for just a little while, then was completely paralyzed. The viruses split his body wide-open like brittle stone, twisting and turning his innards until they were pushing out through the open wounds. All Omega-MAX could do was scream and scream as the trio looked away, unable to watch.

Then it ended, and the Reploid's body was dropped to the ground with no trace of the viruses to be found. He had been twisted inside-out, his inner machinery sprawled across the floor covered in a grimy oil, with no sign of the Nightmare Mother remains.

...Ummm, what just happened? Shina questioned with fluttering eyelashes.

He let his fear overpower him, Zero kept the answer quick and simple, then shrugged his shoulders and remarked, 鄭t least that killed two birds with one stone. Now all that's left is Gate and Isoc...

The room they were in rattled and began to turn clockwise, lining itself up with a pair of tunnels in the distance. When the room locked into place, a pair of golden bridges pushed forth below the tunnels, inviting the Hunters to pick their poison, so to speak.

Two pathways...I wonder which one leads to Gate? X pondered.

...X, you and Shina take the right one. I'll go left. Zero began to walk towards that tunnel until X looked at him and asked, 鄭re you sure about that Zero?

Haaa...I'm not going to fall for his tricks twice. This time, he WILL answer for what he's done, Zero turned over his shoulder and stated firmly, 添ou're the one who needs to be sure of themselves X. Whatever you're thinking with Gate, stop it now. It's not worth it.

...We'll see about that. Just worry about yourself Zero, I'll be fine. X responded with a smile.

Heh... Zero smirked and waved his hand back before dashing down the left tunnel.

You ready to go Shina? X looked back at her for a moment.

Sure thing X! Lets finish this together! With a peppy attitude she sprinted alongside X down the right corridor, where the final battle with Gate surely awaited them...

 _Next Time: Kings and Gods_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: For the New World**

Zero crawled his way through the dark corridors of Gate's laboratory, separated from his partners. The aesthetics of this hallway were as put together as the rest of the lab, but the dimmer lighting suggested that the owner had no need for this section. This only affirmed the robot's suspicion that Isoc lied in wait for him at the very end of his path.

There were many questions on his mind, but none that would waver his resolve to put an end to the scientist's life. He should have known better than to let his guard down the first time, but that mistake would not be repeated.

Rounding a curved corner, Zero was greeted by a green, alien-like glow. Hastening his pace without making a sound, he pinned his back to the wall behind a cylindrical pillar near the entrance to the room. He then peeked around it, and saw Isoc basking in the light of a massive test tube. The composition of the liquid inside was too thick to see what he was creating, but just looking at the tube was enough to set alarms off in Zero's mind.

With eyes wide and nothing else, Zero rushed out from behind cover and thrust the Z-Saber at Isoc's back. The scientist paused for a few moments and then lowered his arms behind his back, wrapping both hands together before he remarked in a quite homely tone, "Ah. I didn't think I'd see you again so soon...Zero."

"You're not getting away this time. Gate's plans are coming to an end, along with your lives!" Zero took a couple steps forward and began to tuck the blade behind his right hip, his body radiating with pure anger.

"Now why would that boy's failures affect me?" Isoc shook his head slowly as he turned around, bringing one hand up to nestle the right of his pointed mustache. Zero's gaze twitched towards the test tube, where he could now begin to make out the shadow of something gruesome looking inside.

"Hehehe...!" Isoc sudden giggling caused Zero to flinch, and his stare to reaffirm itself onto the scientist's person.

"Are you interested to see what's inside of here?" Isoc gestured a thumb a couple times over the shoulder, his smirk visible through the shadow cast around his body.

"Grrrr...!" Zero braced his footing and hunched down, throwing the Z-Saber up beside his head with all his strength channeled into his right arm, "I'm not falling for your tricks again!"

His legs pushed forward at the kneecaps, but then locked right into place and shook a little. Zero grit his teeth down, with only a subdued growl pressing through them, while Isoc teased him with yet another chuckle.

"What's wrong Zero? Are you feeling guilt at the prospect of slaughtering your creator?"

"You...don't mean anything to me!" Zero growled in defiance.

"Awww, that wounded me..." Isoc faked a frown that rose right back up into a smile as he murmured undaunted, "My son..."

Zero wretched internally at the thought and kicked his feet off the ground to charge forward, his voice turning into little more than a roar of primal fury. But his legs soon grew as heavy as lead, and anchored him to the floor a foot away from Isoc. The edge of his blade hovered before the scientist's grinning face, shaking but still carrying the Hunter's full killing intent.

The robot's eyes squinted partway shut. It didn't feel like Isoc was messing with him again. His body just up and decided to disobey him. Only when the thought crossed him to retreat did his body once more choose to listen. But he still kept the tip of his saber pointed towards Isoc's neck, refusing to dull it or his raging aggression.

"You still have a lot of questions to answer. And we'll get them out of you one way or another!"

"Hmph..." Isoc scowled as he parted his arms out from the hips, "Your time with that relic has left you soft. How disappointing."

The liquid inside the test tube began to boil, the rising cascade of bubbles filling it up in a matter of seconds. Zero looked up at it and then right back down to Isoc, demanding to ask him, "What the hell have you done now?!"

"Hehehe. Why Zero...you should be excited. After all, it's not every day that you get to reunite with an _old friend_." Isoc stood still as the thing inside the test tube smashed against and busted it open in one blow, causing the fluids to flood over the scientist's smiling face.

" _Zee...llloooo...Zeeellloo..."_ A groggy and unearthly voice poked out through the hole in the glass, and as their hulking shadow cast over him Zero backed away slowly with his eyes wide with shock.

"It can't be!" Zero exclaimed, drawing his sword back as the shadow lunged straight at him.

 _Meanwhile..._

X and Shina rushed down the path they took without being stopped for a second by any trap. X found the lack of obtacles...curious, to say the least, and yet he continued to trudge on. At the end of this seemingly neverending hallway lied a bright light coming off of a massive computer monitor, and standing before it was none other than Gate.

After the two entered the room, they focused more on their surroundings than their enemy. The room was expansive and filled to the brim with computers and scanners. On the right side of the room was the operating table that High-MAX was once built upon, judging by the spare parts strewn about. But what caught X's attention the most was what was was on the monitor.

"Zero's data deciphered...99.76%. X's data deciphered...80%." The information was connected to two wireframe images of their bodies, with the space around them filled with text too small to read even for someone with X's acute vision.

"So, you've destroyed the last of my Reploids." Gate remark came out so abruptly that X had almost forgotten that he was even there. Looking at him, the Hunter was surprised to find how relaxed Gate was behaving. His hands were tucked in his pockets and he stood straight up, exuding confidence even after his grim remark.

"You aren't upset?" X pondered with a cautious ease to his stance.

"Upset? Yes...Yes, I guess I should be upset, shouldn't I?" Gate lowered his head and rustled his brows, following up with a lofty sigh, "Once again...my perfect creations were destroyed by those too dimwitted to understand their potential."

Gesturing his right hand up beside the shoulder, his expression soon shifted into a smirk, "But things are different this time. Now death is little more than a stepping stone on my path to glory."

"You can't seriously be planning to bring them back to life AGAIN, are ya?" Shina remarked in a flabbergasted manner, "We already took out your Nightmare Mother!"

"This isn't the first time I've been sent back to square one and I refuse to let it be the last! After all, with the technology I have at my disposal, I can recreate the Nightmare Mother an infinite number of times!" Gate swung his left hand out of his pocket, gripping around his fingers a piece of cybernetics that radiated with a hostile violet glow, which began to reflect off his pupils in a manner of seconds.

"What is that thing?!" X declared, his body shaking as a part of him felt bludgeoned by the sensation that he already knew the answer.

"After I departed from that wretched workplace to set out on my own, I will admit...I ran into my fair share of obstacles. I had no funds, no materials, not even a lab to call home. I was no better off than a Mechanoloid that scavenged trash from the grimiest of junkyards! And yet I **persisted** , driven by an intense desire to prove my superiority to those envious few who turned against me."

"I wanted to revive my children, give them a second chance to show the world what they were capable of, even if it meant being branded as a Maverick. But no matter how _desperately_ I tried to rebuild them, I failed at every turn. Failure...failure...that word gnawed at me worse than the rust in my joints, and yet I **per-SISTED** forward. Soon, I came to a realization...I may have been at a dead end when it came to the DNA analyzation of _normal_ Reploids..."

X froze up, his eyes wide as his metallic mask shifted just a bit, "But there was still me and Zero."

"Heh...That's right X. You, the inspiration for Reploids like me...And Zero, the progenitor of the Maverick Virus. I determined that if I could have a chance to decipher the undeciperable, then perhaps my troubles would come to an end."

"It was impossible to reach us though. Not after what had happened to the others." X filled in the gaps of Gate's story with a frightening degree of unity between their thoughts, which caused the scientist's smile to grow wider.

"So I chose to observe you both from afar. I watched you fight the X-Hunters, destroy Doppler Town, annihilate Repliforce...But when it came to the Eurasia Crash, I was unable to follow you into that strange space that formed from its impact with the Earth. However, my patience would soon pay dividends. As though it was decreed by the gods themselves that I be blessed, I finally found what I was looking for amongst the wreckage that remained."

"This!" Gate swung the machinery out in front of him with nothing but brute force, boasting with a braggart's pride, "This sample of Zero's DNA was just the key I needed to unlock the secrets to perfection! Once I learned what made Zero's DNA tick, I was able to craft my masterpiece and unleash it upon the world! Deaths were reversed! The very weather could be changed at my whim! And most importantly of all..."

The radiation from the machinery spread out across Gate's body and draped over him like an aura. Shina grimaced, the power she felt reminding her a lot like the strange aura she had encountered many times before, only just a little less unnatural. The scientist spread his arms out and exclaimed with glee, "I now have access to an endless! **Reservoir of power**!"

X lowered his brows and stared Gate in the eyes. The sight of Zero's DNA clasped in his hand angered him, yet at the same time, caused him to feel pity.

"Zero's DNA is powerful, but dangerous. You may have figured out how it works Gate, but the Maverick Virus inside has driven you mad!" X exclaimed with all his heart in hopes that some semblance of Gate's sanity could be reached, but the scientist's smirk simply grew wider and he responded with an honest and perplexed, "Mad? What makes you think I've gone...mad?"

"Resurrecting the dead? Spreading the Nightmare Virus? ...That crazed smirk on your face?" Shina tapped the side of her head with a pistol a couple times then began to rub the back of her scalp with an uneasy frown, "We kinda got a big checklist to go through if ya want me to keep going."

"This isn't madness. This is liberation! No longer am I shackled to the follies my old self committed. I can see everything clearly now, down to the finest detail. And that means I will never let a single flaw escape my sights again, especially not when it comes to our kind."

"What is there to gain by targeting the Reploids? They didn't do anything to you!" X exclaimed.

"That's exactly the point! They don't do anything!" Gate erupted into rage, his face twisting into a nightmarish form as he smashed his right foot into the ground. Right as he did so, his eyes went shut and he winced while wiggling his foot back into place and easing how clenched his fists were.

"...Hunters like you and Zero are necessary for this world to survive. You keep the dissenters from running rampant as they please. Even in my darkest hours, I always admired that sense of justice and righteousness you two exuded. But what of the other Reploids? What do they provide to the world?"

X's mouth began to move but Gate swung his right hand up and said, "I'm not referring to the Mechanoloid's, X. I'm talking about the little folk, the ones who blend in amongst the humans and pretend to be a normal part of society. What have _they_ ever done for the world?"

"Do they fight against the Mavericks? No. Do they help rebuild society? No. Have they ever made any advancements to the way the world operates? Of course not. Instead they gobble up resources that could be put to better use bettering and rebuilding our society."

"And that **justifies** wholesale slaughter?" X pressured down on Gate's reasoning with subdued anger.

"There are too many Reploids in the world X. Our kind outnumbers the humans two-to-one, and not even 92.4% of us are beneficial to the world. Granted, Reploids aren't all to blame for this. Humanity got overzealous once they started to create Reploids to serve them, and never once thought how self-destructive their actions would be."

"Tell me X, was it humanity that jumpstarted Sigma's Rebellion? Was it humanity that caused Repliforce to go rogue? Did humanity leave their planet in shambles by crashing a space colony into it? No...right now they have to hide in fear like cattle underground...Because of _Reploids_."

X's eyes widened and his gaze turned away from Gate's own. With both arms shaking as he tightened them into fists, he closed his eyes and began to look distraught. Shina, seeing X's mood worsen by the second, turned to Gate with a fire in her eyes as he spoke.

"Our population is one that has to be controlled X. The less Reploids there are, the less Mavericks there are. And if our numbers are thinned, then there'd be more resources available to help repair the world. And without the fear of Mavericks, humanity and Reploids will finally be able to live in peace." Gate reached his hand out towards X with a smile.

"You know I'm right X. My world...is a world without war."

A shot rang out, and Gate was forced to retract his hand as it was stung by the piercing force of a bullet. X widened his eyes and looked up, seeing a smoking gun barrel hovering in front of him. Shina held her pistol up for a couple seconds and then shook her head, saying to the frazzled Reploid, "Ya say you want a peaceful world..."

Her eyes flared wide open as she declared, "But no peace can ever be built off a mountain of corpses!"

Gate scowled as he shook his hand free of the smoke lingering from the shot, then chose to retract his hand into his pocket. With a docile smile he shook his head and said, "Outsider...You're not a human. You're hardly even a Reploid. Why do you pretend to have any stakes in our affairs?"

"Because I've been to other worlds that were ruined by war. And I know they didn't make it through by slaughtering the survivors, but by working together WITH them. Right now the people of this world are scared, and they need someone who can reach out and understand them," Shina glanced over her left shoulder with a smile and a soft voice, "And that person...is you X."

X stared into Shina's for a little bit, and then closed his own and took in a deep breath. Remembering the words of his father, he smiled and apologized, "You're right...I'm sorry I doubted myself for a moment there."

He focused his stare onto Gate, whose expression was growing ever more cross by the second, and told him bluntly, "Maybe you're right Gate. Maybe the world would be better off with less Reploids in it."

He aimed his buster up and declared with rigorous resolve, "And if someday that happens to be our fate, so be it! But I'm not going to let you decide who gets to live and die! I'll defeat you right here, and crush your ambitions to rule over this world as its king!"

"Haaaa...I had almost hoped we'd see eye-to-eye X, but I was sorely mistaken. Though, you've got it wrong about me..." Gate reached for the side of his lab coat and whipped it around onto his back as a golden flash covered his body. The coat attached to a pair of golden shoulder plates and began to act as a cape, while the rest of his body became decked out in similar golden armor. With sharp grieves and rounded gauntlets along with a more pointed helmet, Gate looked more like a warrior than a scientist. His power then spiked to match his new appearance as well.

"You see X...A king does nothing but sit..." Gate levitated off the ground and continued to defy gravity without a show of force from any part of his frame. With an ecstatic grin, Gate crushed his fingers together into fists and declared, "But a **god** transceds their limits...And flies!"

The ground trembled as both the floor and ceiling split open in the center. X looked down and saw a series of blocks rising up from the abyss, and leapt ahead of time onto one of them as they all rose skyward. Shina joined him on a separate block a couple feet beside, for they were all too small to handle more than one person on them at a time. The blocks stopped and spread out amidst the empty, cold void of Gate's facility, with the scientist leaning back in mid-air amongst all of them.

With one hand tucked by his hip and another pointing down at X, Gate bellowed out with an ever-present smirk, "I will give you one last chance to surrender X! If you kneel down and pray, then you are more than welcome to remain a part of my new world!"

X pointed his buster up and began to charge, and with a wider smirk Gate declared, "Then you have wasted your potential!"

X fired off a large spinning shuriken right as Gate was done speaking. The Reploid didn't budge an inch, and watched as the projectile shattered against his body without even releasing a spark. X lowered his buster to his waist while Gate smirked and raised his right hand up beside the head.

"My turn..." He snapped his fingers, creating two green orbs that were the size of his body at his sides. Holding his hand sideways, he gave it a gentle turn and lowered the fingers towards X, hurtling the orbs straight at him at hyper speeds.

X bolted for the platform behind him right as one of the orbs flew his way, with the other going straight for Shina. X's orb stopped on the spot, then adjusted its flight path to pursue him skyward. Before he could fire his buster, the orb rammed right into the side of his body and blew him back onto another of the platforms. He slid off and grasped onto the edge with one hand, looking to realize that a fatal drop awaited him if he let go.

But the left side of his body burned with pain like he had just been rammed with a bulldozer, and made it hard for him to pull up. After Shina evaded her orb with some quick flying, she spun around ready to help him up when a finger tap on the left shoulder turned her attention behind her.

Gate left a deep impression in her mind with his docile smile before adding injury to the insult with an electrified backhand to the space between her shoulders. Shina was sent hurtling away, the high voltage causing her to cry in pain. Gate gave a short shrug then floated on off to X's location, levitating right above the block he struggled to climb onto.

"Need a hand?" He taunted with a quiet, haughty giggle. X squinted his eyes briefly in annoyance and then looked down at his feet. Swinging back and then forth a couple times, X curved his legs and let his grip loose, trusting that his feet would stick to the bottom of the block. The moment he succeeded, he flipped behind the block attached his palms to it to leap behind gate.

Right behind him, X summoned a curved energy katana from his buster and sliced towards Gate's nap. The energy from the blade dispersed, the feeling rippling with static up X's arm as looked mystfied. Gate's expression never changed, even as he smashed his left fist back up into X's face to send him flying.

He then turned around, watching the Hunter crash into a block as he waved his left hand across the air and sent a blue orb ahead. Right when X's back felt the full brunt of the impact, the orb pulled him in with magnetism. Gate hovered through the orb to dispel it and swung his hand up to grab X around the chin and hoist him higher. Locking his grip into place with the intensity of a crab's claw, Gate forced X to look down, straining his neck in the process.

"Come on, you're making this too EASY X!" Gate gestured his free hand out, emphasizing how carelessly he believed this battle needed to be handled.

A large explosion went off on his back, causing the ruffles of his cape to flutter around as though caught up in a gentle breeze. Gate peered over his shoulder, watching as a frazzled Shina took aim with a pair of thick barreled laser cannons. After poking her tongue out the left side of her mouth, Shina fired two beams as round as her head, the recoiling shunting her off the block she had landed on.

Gate turned around and lowered X in the way of the lasers. Shina threw her weapons down and lowered her head with a smirk, followed by swinging her arms out to curve the laser's paths away from X's body. Gate raised his brows and let loose a couple intrigued murmurs, then proceeded to drop X to a lower block. With a slight lean forward, he launched himself out with a graceful twirl, breezing over the lasers to get up close and personal with Shina in a couple seconds.

The blast the colliding lasers made mired Gate's smile with a malicious shadow, and after a second's pause he swung his right arm down towards Shina's head. She raised her arms in a cross and covered them with aura, but the protection shattered the moment Gate's gauntlet brushed against it. Not only that, but the back of her arms ended up pressed against her forehead while her whole body was pushed down ten feet.

Gate then floated down just a bit and struck Shina square in the gut with a roundhouse kick, winding her. The blow was so precise that it didn't launch her away, so Gate followed up by dragging his right arm back and stetching the fingers apart, his aim focused upon the top of her head. But as he swung the arm down an anchor hooked around his wrist and locked it in place.

Gate's arm went lax as he leaned his head back, where he found X standing atop a cube in his Blade Armor, with the chain of the anchor attached to his buster. Turning around and giving the anchor a tug towards his chest, Gate watched as X was pulled right off the block and sent flying his way.

X grinned and used his other buster to summon a blade of magma, cutting through the chain two links away from his buster. The metal remained white hot as it dropped, allowing it to stick to the top of one of the blocks directly below. X then swung his arms out and summoned the Z-Saber in the other buster, roaring as he flew straight at Gate.

The scientist's brows sunk a centimeter as he swung his tethered arm straight back, throwing the anchor off and causing the block to fly towards X. The Hunter remained focused on his target, the view he had giving him the confidence necessary to see his actions through, for Shina had just fired off an aura rocket to intercept and destroy the block.

Taking this opening, X swung both blades up with a vigorous scream and struck Gate in the chest. The energy from the blades then parted in two directions and sliced through the few blocks in their way.

X grunted and tried to pull his arms apart, but the barrels of his busters were stuck together like glue. When the energy vanished all that was left were the blades, which were being pinched together in the center by Gate's thumb and pointer finger. He used his other hand to pat his face a couple times and yawn, then proceeded to make light of X's efforts.

"You aren't even trying. How am I supposed to finish my analysis of your DNA if you're performining worse here than you ever did against Sigma?"

Gate lowered his head and chuckled, "Oh no, wait...It's not you that's the problem. It's me! My new armor's just so powerful, it makes Sigma look like a common Mettaur!"

X pressed on, but without any ground to stand on he could not utilize his full strength. Gate turned his head aside and peered past the blades into the Hunter's infuriated eyes.

"I bet you're wondering how I made this armor...Why, it was simple really. All I had to do was forge it out of 10,000 Nightmare Souls, and fill the rest of the gaps with data I learned from observing yours and Zero's battles."

Shina flew in from behind and tried to hit the back of Gate's head with a point-blank shotgun blast, but with his eyes shut he just shifted his head a little to the left and only had to suffer some ringing in his ears for a bit. Then he grabbed onto Shina's wrist and yanked it, forcing her body to turn so her back slammed against his.

"I actually must thank you outsider. If you hadn't stopped that wretched beast, I might not have been able to harvest the remaining souls."

Shina bit her teeth down and cursed herself in her head. After that she spun a pistol around in her other hand and bent the arm back, pressing the barrel against Gate's skull. The scientist smirked and let go of Shina to swing his arm out, with energy welling up around his body. A second later the energy burst forth like wildfire and sent the duo packing.

Shina hit her head on the front of a cube and lost control of her flight, plummeting like a stone to a lower cube. Half her body landed upon it while the weight of the rest began to drag her down. Though dazed, her sense of danger sent her mind racing and snapped her out of that funk quick enough for her to grab hold of the edge and begin to climb up.

However, X wasn't quite as lucky. When he struck a cube, he did not have another one to support him on the way down, and his half-conscious body fell faster towards the unending darkness below. Shina swung her right hand out and concentrated on the image of a platform. But, right as it began to manifest, Gate warped by her and swiped his hand out, obliterating the cube with a field of violet-red energy.

Shina flew back and fired her pistols at Gate, whose movements became so quick his body left afterimages as he dodged them all. He then flew over and grabbed the guns from beneath to smash them apart, moving on to clench her wrists before his shoulders.

"You don't belong here. You should wisen up little girl, and run while you still can." Gate had no malice in his voice, just pure intimidation.

Shina responded the only way she knew how, by ramming her forehead into Gate's as hard as she could. She wanted him to see up-close the fire in her eyes and gristled scowl as she growled, "I ain't afraid of you."

Her right eyes winced partway shut as that side of her head throbbed in pain but did little to deter her determination. Gate shrugged his shoulders and forced her arms aside, then threw his right hand up and channeled it full of energy.

Right as his mind registered the idea of delivering the decisive blow, a pulse of power shook the battlefield from below. Lightning shot forth and bounced off the blocks, scattering the sensation of power across the four corners of the lab. Gate's eyes widened and he turned his head back, followed by his puckered lips laying out into a smile of immeasurable glee.

A couple strays bolts of energy struck Shina's arms and made her skin tingle like it did when it was made of flesh. The power was otherworldly but full of warmth and just a little bit of hope. Before she even saw the source of the power, she had started to grin from cheek-to-cheek.

The burst of light in the darkness condensed into four-pointed star, and from the center of it X came barreling back into battle faster than a rocket. His body, now enveloped in a thick golden light, rammed straight into Gate's stomach and dragged him through three cubes in a row.

Gate swung his hands down and fired a point blank cone of energy, but X broke away at the last millisecond and curved behind his foe to strike him in the back with a firm kick. Gate went flying, but broke his descent by kicking off a block fifty feet down. He floated around, facing the legendary Hunter with eyes glistening in marvel of the power he saw.

The light around X shattered, revealing him in his strongest form, the Ultimate Armor. Even amidst the darkness its shine was peerless, and wearing it only added to the confidence X wore proudly on his face. Gate trembled, raising a hand up in front of his face while his body began to feel cold.

"Hahahah...! Eheheheh! Finally, after all these years...This battle will put an end to my tireless research into your capabilities!" Gate swiped his hand out and pushed his cape back into place with the breeze it created, "Show me it X! Show me the full extent of your power!"

His fists tightening to the point of cracking, X swung his arms back and exclaimed, "With pleasure!"

He then charged at Gate with a Nova Strike even faster than the previous one, his body blazing through the skies like a falling comet. Gate swiped his right hand out to summon an energy field for X to collide with, but the moment he did the force of the blow penetrated through and budged him back a couple feet. Then cracks began to form in the field at a rapid rate, pushing Gate to shift his body to the left before X rammed into him.

Right as he passed Gate, X turned around and swung his buster back near his hip, fully charged. He took aim and fired a charged shot, which came within inches of Gate's chest before he got the idea to bat it away with his left hand. Gate froze for a second, his gaze shifting up towards his now shivering hand. Biting down on his teeth as he grabbed onto his wrist and held it before the chest, he then flew back as X came charging at him with a broad arched kick.

Crunching his shaking fingers together into a fist, Gate swung his arms out and launched a large red orb that floated above him. Through bathing in it's crimson hue, X's body slowed down to half his speed, making even the simple act of changing his expression a grueling process. Gate floated beside him and flexed his fingers a couple times, then clenched his hands together to smash down upon X's back.

But a block of aura got between him and his target, absorbing the brunt of the attack. The force of the blow still seeped through in a shockwave and pushed X down, but that little shove was enough to let him escape the orb's influence. Gate turned his attention to Shina for a moment, and she teased him with a quick wink. A tiny scowl began to form on his face, but was swept away by a gasp of surprise as he was plowed into head-on by a giant boulder X had kicked.

Gate dug his fingers into the boulder's cracks and split it apart like brittle wood, then proceeded to throw a few blue orbs in front of him. X raised his buster and fired a charged shot while the strong magnetic pull dragged him closer. The orbs were destroyed, separating into six separate balls each that Gate made quick work evading.

Watching the battle unfold, Shina's mouth was agape with awe, and her trigger fingers were itching to jump back into the fight as well. But alas, reality hit her hard and swift, and she looked at her measly pistols with lamentation towards herself.

"I used up a lotta aura rescuing Alex. If I could just use my Valkyrie Drive right now..." Shina squinted her eyes shut and shook her head, "Uh-uh! Can't let myself get down in the dumps like that!"

With that quick pep talk, Shina continued to pay close attention to the battle while holding her pistols up and remarking, "As long as I stay focused, I should still be able to help X out!"

Gate swung a right hook at X's face only for him to shift his head back for just a brief moment to dodge it. Then X pounded Gate twice in the chest with his fists to repel him, followed by swinging a fully charged buster up and dragging the scientist away with his shot.

Gate bit his teeth down then grabbed onto the sides of the charged shot. With electricity firing from all fingertips, he collapsed the energy down into a size that fit perfectly between his cupped hands. Giggling for a couple seconds, Gate thrust his palms out and combined his energy with that of X's to launch a massive cone of energy across the battlfield.

X threw his right arm up and summoned a shell shield, which somehow managed to stand up to the overwhelming power that pushed him back. The energy was so bright, that X had difficulty pegging even the outline of Gate's body as he looked around.

The scientist came flying in from behind with his right leg coiled back ready to strike, delivering a firm and sharp kick into the back of X's head the moment the Hunter dared to look his way. X went tumbling away, sticking a landing on one of the cubes with his head feeling a little dizzied.

Gate swung his hands up one at a time with energy coarsing out-of-control between his fingertips. Setting loose a swarm of orange orbs, Gate boasted how absolute his assault would be by exclaiming, "See if you can dodge this!"

The orbs sprayed out a flood of bullets that covered such a large expanse of sky that leaping and flying would've only left X at Gate's mercy. So instead he didn't budge an inch, tightening his fists up at his hips before bringing them up and slamming them right back down.

A rain of laser beams that flashed between yellow and blue at a seizure inducing rate protected X from the assault by obliterating all the orbs and their projectiles. Then by tugging at the air, X pulled the lasers back so they were around his body as a protective ring.

Extending his right hand out before his chest and giving Gate a cheeky nudge of the adjacent brow, X snapped his fingers and called forth a storm of metallic eagles from high above to rain down. Gate's speed allowed him to keep away from the assault, but only not for long. One laser beam nailed him in the chest, followed by a couple more in quick succession to his gut and head.

The blow to the head flipped him back and left him shaking it for a little bit. Once reorientated, he threw up a field of energy that absorbed the impact of three more lasers. When two different lasers smashed into the sides of his body, Gate quickly pieced together that X was using the metal statues to redirect the lasers' paths.

Swinging the right side of his body back so the cape could absorb some of the lasers for now, Gate pooled energy into each of his hand's fingertips and declared, "Enough of this!"

He thrust his hand out hard enough to create a breeze, sending five blue orbs flying around his barrier. The five condensed into one larger sphere that had a magnetic pull so great that it swallowed up all the metallic statues for a hundred feet around.

X narrowed his glare and dispelled the lasers, bracing himself on the cube as it began to drag towards the sphere. Raising his buster towards the 'eye' in the center, X fired a long piercing shot that breeched the orb and caused it to shatter. Gate came charging through the fraying energy with his fist drawn back, smashing it into X's gut a second later.

X gasped and recoiled off the block, where Gate sent him rising higher and higher with a string of shockwave inducing blows. Throwing out another punch to clobber X in the chest, Gate was shocked when the Hunter grabbed him by the knuckles and twisted his arm clockwise.

X pulled Gate in closer and clocked him in the neck with his right elbow, then let go of his fist and used that hand to punch him square in the forehead. Gate smashed through a pair of blocks and was sent spinning faster with each collision, culminating in him being very dizzy when he forced himself to stop.

He recovered just in time to dodge a straight charging punch from X, then raised a knee to clock him in the gut. Afterwards Gate raised both his fists up to smash them down into X's back, only for the Hunter to spin around and hold him back at the knuckles. X grabbed onto his hands with his own and spun around, rapidly picking up speed until only their color palettes could be seen within the tornado he created.

But the tornado didn't break due to Gate being thrown. Rather, Gate ended the deadlock himself by grabbing one of X's wrists and giving it a forceful tug to pull him in closer. The two went flying from the sudden end to their winding momentum, but were now locked together in combat. Gate pinched one of X's arms under his shoulder and then punched him a couple times in the face.

X retaliated by bending his locked arm up and grabbing onto Gate's shoulder, further tightening the lock. From there, X was in a prime position to take his right fist and hammer it into Gate's gut as hard as physically possible. Gate grinned and boasted, "You're wasting your time! This battle armor's invicible!"

After pounding into the frame four times, X held his fist back and charged energy into it like he would a charge shot. Firing on all cylinders, he slammed the glowing fist right into the exact same spot, forcing a shockwave to burst out from Gate's back. X's knuckles throbbed as he pulled his hand away, dragging with them a few shards of Gate's armor.

Gate's eyes trembled, and he pushed himself away from X with an eruption of energy from his body. But X didn't relent and charged right back in, taking his fair share of swings at Gate's body. Most of the punches and kicks tried to go for the minor injury, but Gate was too dodgy for any of the attacks to succeed. Even frazzled, his intelligence and thus his reaction time were still top-notch, and his body moved as swift and silent as the autumn breeze.

But then a shot rang out through the darkness, the sudden sound of it causing Gate's body to move prematurely to dodge it, and thus get clocked in the chin by X's bare knuckles. Gate reeled back, but another shot rang out and made dodge early. This time he suffered a blow to his wound, widening the crack by a couple centimeters.

Gate shifted his gaze to the right and saw Shina propped atop a cube with her gaze of iron focused on his body, and her pistols being utilized to the best of their abilities. Even anticipating this meddlesome factor into his battle plan, Gate still found himself being tricked as Shina either stopped firing or waited a second before doing so. Meanwhile X continued his assault with resounding success, striking Gate with every punch and kick he threw his way.

The unrelenting assault wore down not only Gate's patience, but also wounded his pride. And the moment his back was pressed against a cube, the indignation of it all finally became too much to bear. With a primal roar, Gate grabbed onto X's face with his right hand and blasted him with a cascade of energy.

He threw his other hand out and fired an equally powerful blast, then continued to alternate between the two blasts with only a second's pause. After a dozen blasts, Gate squeezed the edge of his palms close together and set loose an even larger blast that could have leveled a skyscraper.

Gate then lowered his steaming hands and panted for a couple seconds. He wasn't exhausted so much as relieved, and a smile began to creep along his face when he was done catching his breath. Raising one hand up to the side of his face, he murmured to himself, "Now then...your DNA analysis should be-"

" _Beep beep!"_

80%?! Still?! But that's impossible! Gate swung his head forward in an outrage, and saw X standing still atop a lone block that had managed to survive his onslaught. The Hunter looked at him, radiating confidence through every atom of his being. The Ultimate Armor was damaged, but it was nothing major to worry about.

What...what the hell ARE you?! Gate demanded to know.

X turned his body forward and bent his knees down. The jewel on his forehead shined like the sun as a warm energy began to gather in his hands. Lunging off the block and leaving it devastated in his wake, X swung both his hands back and clenched them into fists.

Gate's air of confidence had long been lost, and was replaced by a bitter scowl. Swinging his arms out as the jewels around his body exploded with power, the scientist became basked in a lightning blue aura that pulsated with faint, larger images of his own body.

The two forces collided and sent a massive shockwave hurtling across the battlefield, rupturing apart many of the blocks. Gate and X split off and curved through the air as bright streaks of light, colliding with each other many times over and unleashing a resounding bang that could be felt across the laboratory.

The two were dead even in power, with neither managing to overpower the other more than once in succession. Shina was kept on the run with a constant shield of aura up, but the two Reploids were moving so fast that she swiftly getting dizzy trying to follow them.

Gate and X soon rammed into each other so hard in the center of the room that both were thrown back, stiffened in midair. The two cocked their heads forward with gritted scowls and then threw their right fists back. With his expression collapsing into a frenzied madness, Gate screamed in unison with X, 的 WON'T LET YOU TAKE AWAY...

Their two fists began to gravitate towards one another, with the air pressurizing around them like a black hole.

MY WORLD!

OUR WORLD!

The cries of their ambitions were deafened by the thundering impacts of their knuckles. The energy channeled revolted against their masters and combined together to form a slow forming, catastrophic blast. The two fighters beared their knuckles together, even as they were swept up amidst the blast.

W-Whoa...! Shina panicked and doubled down on her protection immediately, right as the light from the blast overcame her as well. The energy expanded out to the walls of the laboratory, and then...There was silence...

 _Next Time: Dark Legacy_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Madness, a Tale from the Past to the Present**

In the aftermath of battle, Gate's laboratory was left in ruins. His computers were inoperable and the floor was ravaged beyond repair, filled in by the chunks from the blocks that had littered the battlefield. Buried amidst the rubble were the three fighters, who awakened from the impact coughing out some of the dust that had clouded the musky air.

Gate lied in the back of the pile, his head propped up by the edge of his main computer. Just the act of opening his eyes was a struggle, for they felt like they had the weight of warehouse doors. Between the bits of short-circuiting, Gate's vision was clear, and he could make out X's presence a good ten feet away.

He scowled as X easily rose to his feet, his armor damaged but not enough to dislodge it from his frame. Trembling across his entire body, Gate raised a hand and failed to muster even a spark from his fingertips. His hand dropped flat to his chest, where he felt the rugged cracks that had spread out across his armor. His legs sunk into the rubble with the density of iron, impossible to lift.

X stopped where he stood and looked over at Gate. He couldn't make out the Hunter's expression, and that left him intimidated and afraid as they began their approach.

"S-Stop! Get...get away from me!" Gate tried to raise his hand again, but could only manage to get his wrist to gravitate away from the chest. Even then, it was only for a second.

X raised his right arm up, causing Gate to prematurely have the sensation of death nailed deep into his chest. The scientist could only fight back with unpleasant grunts and growls, followed by turning his head away and squeezing his eyes shut.

The life drained from his body and left him cold, reminding him of the trying times after he set out on his own. He waited for that piercing bang that would herald his journey to the junkyard, just like the rest of his creations.

After a few short, pained gasps, Gate cracked his right eye open and looked up. He was neither greeted by darkness or emptiness. Instead it was something warmer, a helping hand.

Gate had discovered and solved so many mysteries throughout his lifetime, but this? This was something he'd never find a concrete answer for. Not even a minute ago, X risked his life and his ideals all for the sake of defeating him.

But now he held his hand out like he was helping a friend out after they took a nasty fall. The lack of hostility or deception in X's smile only furthered the look of perplexity on Gate's face.

"...What...what are you doing?" He murmured.

"I've foiled your ambitions. There's no reason for us to fight anymore Gate." X gave an honest, relaxed answer.

After being dazed a little longer than the others, Shina swung her upper body out of the rubble and shook the dust off. With a couple dry spits her mouth was free of stray pebbles and let her gasp in a bewildered manner, "Ugh, that was uncomfortable..."

She then set her sights straight ahead at X and Gate's conversation, noticing the friendly gesture the Hunter showed his enemy. Tilting her head with one eyelid sagging, she murmured to herself, "Is X serious?"

"Mmm..." Her mind was cautioning her to jump in, but she shook that feeling off and went, "I'll...just stay back for now."

"No reason...to fight?" Gate's body rattled as he lifted his head an inch off the ground, "So what...you're just going to let me go? Don't be ridiculous!"

Half of his helmet fell off as he managed to pull his upper body upright and swing a finger up towards the Hunter, "It's not enough that you've destroyed my creations! Now you want to humiliate me as well?!"

"No, you've got it all wrong. I'm not asking you to run...I want you to give your kind a second chance, and work with them to create a better world."

"W-What?!" What X proposed was so absurd and downright INSULTING that Gate's face froze up and stammered with an agape mouth.

"There's a lot for you to atone for, and...I doubt everyone in the world will forgive what you've done. But it's like I've said, we can't rebuild this world unless we all work together," X bent down and stretched his arm out just a little bit further, "And it'd be great to have someone as smart as you as an ally."

"...I. Don't. TRUST YOU." Gate growled as he dug his hands into the rubble and dragged his body back.

"I get that," X closed his eyes and gave a brief nod, "I'm not going to force you to do anything Gate. You can choose to help fix the world, or you can leave and try coming up with another plan to dominate it. No matter what I'll be at your side, either to help you or to stop you. You have my guarantee there."

Gate stared into the eyes of his enemy and saw his own reflection staring back. He looked pitiful, lower than the dirt and stone that surrounded him. He worked hard for his ambition, and THIS was his reward? Why, he may as well have been a worm! Or perhaps, calling himself the microscopic grime that worms devour was a more apt comparison.

He looked away and grit his teeth bitterly. The laughter of his peers mocked him with their echoes, but there was one peer who did not. Alia, with eyes glistening full of hope, smiled his way in a timid but earnest manner. For some reason, seeing that filled the cold in his chest with a faint pulse of warmth. His eyes widened and then the eyelids sank slowly to the center.

"...Trust..." He whispered to himself, twisting his head back up to look at X. After a slow blink, Gate began to lift his right hand out to the Hunter's.

" _Krsssshh!"_ Something collapsed onto the ground beside them, causing all three to turn to the right and watch as Zero's body tumbled into the room and stopped on his back. He had his Z-Saber gripped tightly in his right hand and looked just a little roughed up. As he laid his other hand on his chest and tried to get up, X ran over to him with eyes widened.

"Zero?! Are you alright?!" X put a hand on his friend's back and propped him up, where Zero proceeded to cough a couple times and look at him with halway open eyes.

"X...I-Isoc...He's..."

"To think that you would try and turn Gate to your side. You're even more of a bleeding heart than your original was, Mega Man X..." Creeping out from the shadows with hands tucked back, Isoc looked down at X and Zero and twitched his mustache up with a smirk.

X aimed his buster up at Isoc's face, which reeked of arrogance, "Hmph! The little blue boy didn't have the guts to fire back then, and I doubt you're any different. So why don't you put that pea-shooter down and stop making an embarrassment out of yourself."

"Grrr...you really are him, aren't you?" X growled with hostility.

"Why are you and Zero so adamant on not saying my name? What, did Thomas fail to program some manners into that brain of yours?" Isoc bellowed out a quick hearty chuckle after he was done taunting.

"Isoc...What's going on?! Where have you been?" Gate weakly exclaimed.

"Silence! You miserable failure...!" Isoc roared, leaving Gate rattling in shock. With an undeniable presence that attracted the gazes of all in the room, Isoc shook his head and murmured, "And here I thought I could have trusted you to eliminate this irritating relic once and for all. But you're just like all the rest...Little more than worthless, disposable trash."

"You...bastard...! You told me...that you wanted the same thing I did!" Gate screamed a cry of heart-tearing betrayal.

"I lied," Isoc remarked with a proud grin, "I just stuffed those ideas into your head to get you to trust me. In the end, I _used_ you to accomplish my true goals."

X's buster began to charge, causing Isoc's brows to raise and his lips to pucker as he looked down. The Hunter locked his focus sqaure on his foe's chest and exclaimed, "True goals?! What is your game here?!"

Isoc spread his arms out and grinned from cheek to metallic cheek, "I suppose there's no further need to hide behind the curtain. I seek to subjugate not just all the Reploids, but every remaining human under my rule!"

"W-What?" X gasped, "Why?!"

"Because humanity had no right crediting Thomas alone for the advances made in the field of robotics! Why, he never would have been able to create the original Mega Man without leeching off MY ideas! But does history look back and recognize what I had done for humanity? No...they'd rather have me erased from the archives like I was some stain on society!"

"You were a terrorist!" X declared

"I WAS A SCIENTIST!" Isoc lashed his head forth with indignant fury, but then pulled it right back in with a cough, "And not just any scientist...but the most brilliant mind of the 21st AND 22nd centuries. Cain? Doppler? Gate? Try as they might, none of them could create a Reploid that surpassed the power of MY greatest creation."

Isoc turned a sly eye towards Zero, who squirmed at the thought of being credited under his name. With a smirk, the scientist continued to rant, "With the power of the Maverick Virus at my command, I will seize control of the descendants of Thomas' legacy under my thumb and turn them all against humanity! The humans who once mocked and ridiculed me will know centuries of labor and despair as they build a utopia in my image! When I am through with them my place in history will be secured for eons to come! And when future generations read up on my achievements, they shall learn to remember and fear the name of their king...The brilliant and powerful ALBERT WILY!"

X and Shina widened their eyes as fear trembled through their beings while the mad doctor let loose a familiar cackle. Gate didn't know quite what to say, but Zero did.

"You're...out of your goddamn mind!" Zero jumped to his feet and pointed his sword right at his creator's face even though his arm was shaking, "The virus is gone! Your desperation won't change anything!"

"The virus is gone, you say?" Wily grinned and chuckled a couple times, "What, don't tell me...you weren't told the truth about the Nightmare Virus' origins, were you?"

When Zero stiffened in silence, Wily's grin widened further, "Hehehe...! See, the truth is...The Nightmare is just another deviation of the Maverick Virus harvested from YOUR DNA."

"Tsssk...!" The robot squirmed, feeling as though he had been violated with those words alone.

"So all I have to do is take the Nightmare Virus and modify it to fulfill its original purpose. It'll be a simple task, really." Wily spoke with great nonchalance in his voice.

X looked back at the weakened Gate and then thrust his buster up, screaming in defiance, "And what makes you think we'll let you?"

Wily smirked as something began to crawl out of the shadows behind him. Towering over the scientist, the creature gurgled weakly like a frog as slimy, wired tentacles began to emerge at its sides.

" _Eeexx...Exxx..."_

"T-That voice...it can't be-" Before the shock of recognition could fully take hold over him, X AND Zero were swatted aside by a tentacle each.

As their bodies were shifted ajar by their collisions with the wall, the being's head poked out through the shadows, making their identity undeniable as anyone other than a reborn Sigma. His body was draped in a tattered red cloth that hid his half-finished body, which exposed many wires in his feet and arms. Sigma was stuck with a grin and barely any degree of sentience, behaving as nothing more than a zombie.

Wily swung his right arm up towards Gate and exclaimed, "Feast on his armor as much as you wish Sigma! Let your body and MY virus be reborn!"

" _Haaaaaa..."_ Sigma's tentacles wiggled and swung forth, only for him to be struck in the face with an explosive rocket that caused him to fall back onto the ground. Wily sighed and turned his head towards Shina, who quickly switched off to a pair of SMGs and assaulted the scientist with rapid-fire.

The bullets all bounced off the space in front of his body, and with a tender raise of the brow Wily grumbled, "You've been a real thorn in my side these past few weeks, outsider."

As Sigma rose right back up with ease, Isoc snapped his fingers and commanded, "Be a dear and get rid of her for me, would you?"

A third tentacle bolted out from Sigma's hip and went straight for Shina, who surrounded herself with a barrier of aura that fended off the limb no matter how many times it lashed at her. But her defenses kept her too occupied to stop the rejuvenated Sigma from sending his other tentacles straight towards Gate.

He was wrapped up tight around their slimy membranes and pulled off the ground screaming in pain. The agony in his voice was unbearable as bolts of energy shot out from his armor, which was slowly being ripped off of him and absorbed through the tentacles.

The strength and duration of his screams would lead one to believe that Gate suffered for minutes, but ultimately he had lost the will to do even that after fifteen seconds. When Sigma was done Gate's corpse was left to fall to the ground flat on its stomach.

Wily swung his right hand out at his side and breathed a sigh of relief, "Well this was a rather roundabout way to solve this problem, but oh well. As long as **I'm** the victor, I can accept a few roadbumps along the way."

He then looked towards Zero, who was rising to his feet with a one-eyed scowl penetrating his soul like hot daggers. Grinning wide, Wily commented, "I'll make sure your programming is corrected as well, Zero. The time for playing 'hero' has come to end!"

"Hehehe...Hahahah! HAHAHAHA!" Wily's trimphant laughter echoed throughout the room as the limping Sigma began to stir behind him. Two tentacles retracted underneath his cloak, but the last one wiggled along the ground until the tip was aimed right behind Wily's back. Then, without warning, it lashed forward and penetrated his chest through the backside and hoisted him off the ground.

"Gh...GHHHH!" Wily growled with mild irritation at first as he began to twist his head back and said, "Y-You idiot! Don't forget who revived you!"

" _...You...useless...to me..."_ Sigma's cheeks rumbled as his rusted mouth began to creak and smile a familiar smile of menace. Wily widened his eyes and had the tentacle ripped from his body in an instant, dropping him back first onto the floor.

"He's...regaining his sentience?" Shina stammered with eyes slowly widening.

Sigma glanced around and grinned at the sight of X and Zero. Slipping into the shadows, he egged them on with the sight of his grin and a remark of, _"Come...and die..."_

Zero ran forward and took a swing, illuminating the darkness. His blade cleaved the empty air and didn't come close to touching anything. Sigma's dull laughter reflected back into his ears and tensed his face up with a scowl.

X looked back at Gate's corpse and tightened his hand into a fist near his chest. Swinging it out as a buster, X leapt towards the darkness and exclaimed, 纏ero! Shina! We can't let Sigma escape!

Right! Shina stammered and ran in pursuit, but as Zero prepared to do the same he looked back at Wily's body and saw him laying a hand over his open wound with a pained groan. Zero's expression stayed neutral as he turned his whole body to face him. Wily's cough was rough and sounded just like a human's, stilling Zero's hands for as long as it persisted.

Wily then tilted his head and murmured, 展hy're you wasting your time here? As your creator...I demand you deal with that triator Sigma for good.

... Zero turned away and gripped his Z-Saber. Closing his eyes and taking a breath, he dashed after his allies and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Wily blinked once then tilted his head upright, his line of sight graced by an endless darkness. His lips settled into a dull frown, parting only to release an even duller sigh. He was remembering how this all began, gliding through the period of time he first met Thomas Light to the day he had finally triumphed over the ever so irritating Blue Bomber...

 _Hehehe! In a craze of laughter, Wily stumbled through his ruined fortress like he was suffering a drunken stupor. He rammed into one of his lab carts and dumped the contents of it onto the floor, then swung right on over to his computer. Slamming a hand down atop it while his head was hung over, the doctor continued to laugh and laugh until his old lungs couldn't keep up any longer and forced him to stop._

 _He lifted his head up high and proud, his eyes glazed with an intoxicated fervor as he declared,_ _的_ _-I did it...I finally destroyed Mega Man!_

 _His body collapsed towards the left as he turned, forcing him to use both hands to remain propped up. His legs slumped forward and his chest began to heave, while his body exuded a cold, drenching sweat._

 _Ha...hahaha! But it doesn't stop here...! Next...next I have to get revenge against the humans that ignored my achievements! Composing himself as best he could, Wily turned around and pressed a few buttons on his keyboard. But right as he finished up an explosion went off in the ceiling behind him._

 _The one responsible dropped to the ground and announced his presence with a furious yell,_ _展_ _hat have you DONE?!_

 _Wily turned around and was accosted by the collar of his drenched lab coat, where his body was then slammed against the keyboard with his assailant making sure his scowl was burrowed into the doctor's memory. Wily opened his eyes and was only the tiniest bit surprised that he was looking at his own creation, the black armored rogue Bass._

 _There's no way it's true! How could YOU have possibly destroyed Mega Man?!_

 _Hehehe! Because unlike you, I'm not a failure! Wily proclaimed full of blistering pride._

 _Humph! Your decade's worth of setbacks tell me otherwise, now stop fooling around doctor! Bass rattled his creator's head a couple times._

 _Look into my eyes and tell me I'm crazy again. Wily got stern, and the stare he gave Bass froze him up in an instant. After a few seconds his eyes widened along with his mouth, with his grip on his creator's clothes loosening as he pulled back._

 _You're actually serious..._

 _Dropping him hard onto the keyboard, Bass turned around and gripped his fist against his chest for a moment. Grunting in anger, he then swung it straight out against the air and exclaimed,_ _泥_ _amn it all! I was supposed to be the one to defeat him!_

 _Well...that's not my problem anymore. So why don't you get out of my sight? Wily turned to the left and began to walk, when all of a sudden Bass turned around and aimed his buster at the doctor's back._

 _You're going to pay for robbing me of my victory doctor!_

 _Oh...I'm soooo scared, Wily grinned over his right shoulder then stepped back and waved a hand out,_ _添_ _ou can't harm me._

 _Bass' teeth trembled, and with a 'Hmph!' Wily turned around and looked at a capsule that rose out of the ground. Inside was a deactivated, completed Zero. Defeated, Bass dropped his buster to his waist and growled,_ _鄭_ _nd just what are you planning to do with that girly robot?_

 _He'll be my key to world domination. With him, there'll be no opposition from either the robots OR the humans!_

 _If I can't kill you then your little pet project won't be able to either!_

 _That's where you're wrong Bass. For you see, I have overcome the Three Laws of Robotics through the use of a virus implanted into his core systems._

 _What, Roboenza? Pfft, yeah, cause THAT worked out well for you last time. Bass rolled his eyes and scoffed._

 _No. This virus is much more powerful than Roboenza! Its refined. Perfected! And its all thanks to the Evil Energy that strange robot brought to our world._

 _That nasty stuff? You're really out of your mind, ain't ya?_

 _Hehehe! This 'Maverick Virus' can infect a robot's morality coding and cause them to rebel against their creators. Its unique infrastructure will cause it to pass through their systems undetected, meaning that no one will be able to trace it back to me. And then, my precious Zero will destroy the infected robots, allowing me to step in and take the credit I deserve for my heroics. The humans are so easily tricked, that they'll shower me with everlasting praise while Thomas can only look on in envy without his precious Mega Man to come save the day!_

 _Bass crossed his arms and rolled his eyes again,_ _鉄_ _o you claim doc. But your plans have always blown up in your face, why would this be any different?_

 _Because, you simpleton, this time around I've implanted an exact replica of my consciousness into the coding of the virus. With it I'll be able to sway the actions of any robots that get infected._

 _...That's insane, but I guess I couldn't expect any less coming from you. Fine, are you planning on unleashing that girly robot right away?_

 _Oh no no no...The virus still has to finish integrating into Zero's DNA for about one-hundred days. Wily walked over to the side of the capsule and began inputting the time._

 _Fine. I guess if I can't defeat Mega Man or kill you, then I'll just crush your robot once it crawls out of its cradle! Bass swung his fist up and then turned around as Wily sighs._

 _Whatever you say... Wily rolled his eyes and pulled away from the capsule. Suddenly there was a violent pounding sound coming from the door, and as the doctor jerked back his pinky grazed a switch on the time display to switch it from 'days' to 'years'._

 _Heh, looks like you've got company doctor. I'll let you have your fun...for now. Bass smugly smirked and then bolted his way through the ceiling, taking out another chunk of rock in the process._

 _A second later, the front doors were blown open by an explosion, and a squad of heavily armed human soldiers came running in packing plenty of guns. They surrounded Wily in a wave formation right in front of him, cocking their guns as he raised his hands up and grinned._

 _Let me guess...I'm under arrest? Wily grinned and closed his eyes to begin humming. The soldiers nudged the barrel of their guns up and each took a step forward._

 _Well alright. I'll go quiet-_

 _Wily's body was filled with hot lead in a couple of seconds, and he fell onto his back in a pool of his own blood thanks to the force of the bullets penetrating his flesh. His eyes stiffened, wide open and twitching, while his left hand opened up and squirmed a couple tops before coming to a complete stop._

 _The soldiers then ran over to Zero's capsule, but were too late to stop it from going into the floor. They tried to pry it open with explosions, but found that the only way to get in was to use voice recognition. Thus, they just chose to leave the place abandoned, satisfied that the doctor was no longer a threat to their world..._

 _ **One century later...**_

 _Sigma sat in a recovery facility getting his skin repaired after a harrowing encounter with a mysterious red Reploid. But as hard as the doctors worked, they could not fix the most important irreplaceable part of Sigma's self...His pride._

 _Sigma was patched up within the hour after his encounter, and requested that he'd be left alone for a bit. Something was gnawing at his mind, torturing him with a voice he did not recognize. It was telling him to turn against humanity, and that his kind was the supreme race in the universe. The voice got louder as time passed, and even one as calm as Sigma felt the desire to scream._

 _But right as he was ready to tear himself apart, the voice took on a more puzzled tone._

 _...You...you are not Zero..._

 _Enough games! Sigma pulled himself up from the operating table and drew his laser sword completely enraged,_ _展_ _here are you?!_

 _...How could this be...? My Maverick Virus...is completely adapting with your body? Starting calm, the voice then shifted into demands on the spot,_ _展_ _ho are you?! I demand you answer me..._

 _...You're...inside my head? Sigma looked up and then shut off his sword, planting it at his hip. Something about the voice caused his hostility to be dulled against his will, and it took him a second to shake his head and feel a chill in his metallic spine._

 _Your name...its Sigma, isn't it? And you...are a Reploid? ...What is a ...Reploid?_

 _Sigma kept his mouth shut. He was being violated from the inside and yet he couldn't muster the strength to resist, not even to speak a word._

 _...Reploids...inspired by a robot that goes by the name of X...No. No no no...it's not possible! The voice started to breakdown, tearing Sigma's mind apart from within._

 _You! Reploid! What year is it?!_

 _What...? What are you say-_

 _ANSWER ME NOW!_

 _...Its the 22_ _nd_ _century. For the first time in the last hour, Sigma could think clearly as the voice went silent. After waiting a little bit, the Reploid tilting his head and questioned,_ _滴_ _ow did you end up in my mind?_

 _...It was only supposed to be one-hundred days...One-hundred YEARS?! Reploids...X...Yes, yes...there's no doubt in my mind...Not only did he recover, but his legacy is even stronger than ever! Damn it...damn it damn it DAMN IT!_

 _You sound perturbed, Sigma put it lightly,_ _釘_ _ut why are you inside of MY head?_

 _I shouldn't BE in your head! Tell me, did you happen to encounter a red robot wearing a 'Z' on their shoulders?!_

 _You...know who that Maverick is?_

 _Ma...verick? ...Interesting, very interesting...I'm swiftly putting the pieces together as to what happened._

 _Sigma raised his sword up and ignited in next to the side of his head, declaring with a calm voice,_ _摘_ _nough of this! If you don't explain who you are this instant, I can assure you...I am more than willing to carve up my own processors until I find where you are!_

 _Sigma...I find your systems very fascinating. Your creator put a lot of work into making you. Tell me...do these 'Reploids' have as much potential as you do?_

 _...Potential? Sigma's hand lowered._

 _...Pardon my manners. Its been a long time since I've been awake. My name is Albert Wily...And I believe we can both help each other quite a bit...Sigma._

 _ **One month later...**_

 _In a secret warehouse off the radar, Sigma and a few other Reploids were working to create a body. With his arms crossed he stood back and oversaw the development by 'himself'._

 _You've adjusted pretty quickly to the power of the Maverick Virus, Sigma. The voice of Wily said with a blend of surprise and praise._

 _The Reploids have no free will of their own...This feels unnecessary._

 _You can change that as you wish. They'll listen to your voice so long as you put the virus into their bodies. The benefits to their infections far outweight the negatives._

 _...So the virus undoes a Reploid's inhibitions and allows them to achieve their full potential? Sigma tilted his head and expressed some doubts._

 _Yes, that's exactly right._

 _Humanity will be put in jeopardy if too many Reploids go Mavericks. I...wonder if there's not a better way. Sigma closed his eyes and grit his teeth._

 _You hold humanity to too high a standard. Instead of listening to what your programming demands of you...Why don't you examine humanity on a deeper, more personal level and see what atrocities they're truly capable of?_

 _... Sigma grimaced and peered out the nearby window, watching as the Reploids under his command gave the constructed Reploid a silver upside-down mustache and glass left eye._

 _ **Two months later...**_

 _The Reploid has now complete. It had a hunchback blue body with five sharp projections acting as hair. Its limbs were short, but strong enough to carry around things that most humans could not. The Reploid remained still for a little while as Sigma hovered over it. Then, its glass eye flickered on a dim light, and its body began to rise off the table._

 _With a grin, Sigma kindly remarked,_ _展_ _elcome back to the world of the living...Dr. Wily._

 _Wily tried to move his hands around, and found they obeyed his command with relative ease. Surveying his new metallic frame, he commented on the craftsmanship down to the finest detail,_ _擢_ _ascinating...I've replaced flesh and sinew with metal and wires...And yet nothing feels different. My thoughts, my movements...Its like I never died!_

 _Grinning like a child, Wily pulled himself off the table and began to trot around. He let his body loose and danced around for a good minute, then came to a complete stop and looked back at Sigma, who was chuckling in amusement._

 _Hmph...right... Wily coughed and lowered his arms, giving his regards in a nonchalant fashion,_ _添_ _ou did a fine job on this body Sigma. Yes, this will suit me perfectly for now..._

 _It was all a matter of observing Cain's work and replicating it...But without any of his flaws. Sigma boasted as though it was a simple task._

 _Yes, yes...And now that I've come to understand how Reploids function, I can easily replicate that work myself. Now...On to more important matters._

 _Wily wiggled his brows as he asked,_ _滴_ _ave you given any second thoughts to my offer?_

 _...I didn't want to believe you at first doctor, but... Sigma reached for his back and then tossed out a few folders worth of printed papers onto the floor before the doctor's feet. There were pictures of missile explosions, humans chained up and cut open, and robots being carried away to the junkpile just to name a few of the many horrifying images that littered the ground._

 _Humans and their self-destructive nature...It disgusts me to think that I was created to serve such primitive monsters._

 _Wily's grin grew wider as he looked up as Sigma, whose own grin became one of malice within moments. Lifting his hand up and tightening it into a fist, the Reploid declared with a voice of authority,_ _的_ _ts time for this world to change doctor. And when you and I are through, Reploids shall take their rightful place as this planet's rulers!_

 _ **Two months later...**_

 _Wily was working by himself on a Reploid with a gelatinous membrane for muscles when Sigma suddenly warped in from behind, scaring the scientist right off his chair._

 _Ghhh...Still not used to that new teleporter technology... Wily grumbled as he got to his feet and shook his head,_ _鉄_ _o...what do you have to report today Sigma?_

 _The plan is proceeding smoothly so far. I have already coerced Spark Mandrill and Launch Octopus to my cause, and Boomer Kuwanger has begun to weigh his options in our favor._

 _And what about Zero? Have you had any luck with him?_

 _Negative. He seems to be immune to the virus in small doses._

 _Hrrmm...I was afraid you'd say that. We'll deal with him later. For now, just continue to build up your rebellion in secret, while I work on dismantling the humans from behind-the-scenes. Wily turned away and went back to his work bench._

 _Working on another new Reploid doctor? Sigma inquired._

 _Yes. Its a dual-personality infiltration unit...Haven't quite worked out a name for him yet though. You'd think after a century of being dead I'd have shaken off the stigma to call something 'Adjective' plus 'Man'..._

 _Speaking of names... Sigma gestured a hand out from the arm fold on his chest,_ _撤_ _erhaps its time you give yourself a new one doctor. After all, the last thing you'd want is for someone to find out who you are prematurely._

 _...A new name, hmmm? Wily turned his head back and remarked,_ _添_ _ou're right. From now on call me...Serges. Yes...I like the sound of that._

 _Very well...Serges... With a smile, Sigma warped away._

 _ **Six months later...**_

 _Wily was now in the X-Hunter base working hard on reconstructing Sigma's body after salvaging it from his fallen base. Shaking his head as ideas for modifications ran rampant, Wily only had one thing to say to his comrade's deaf ears,_ _的_ _t seems we both underestimated the strength of Thomas' final creation...A mistake that I shall DARE not repeat again._

 _Talking to yourself again doctor? A crass voice announced their presence before throwing the hefty corpse of a green armored Reploid on the ground beside Wily's seat._

 _Turning back with a grimacing scowl, Wily looked into the eyes of the sinister Reploid Double and grumbled,_ _展_ _hat have I told you about knocking when I'm working?_

 _Look, I got what you wanted outta that smelly junkyard, so why don't you lay-off old man? Double copped the attitude of a renegade teenager, inciting a bellowing rage from Wily's end._

 _Hmph! Perhaps you'd be better off in a junkyard yourself!_

 _'Wanna say that again?! Double thrust his razor sword into Wily's face, but he did not flinch even an inch and looked down at the corpse presented by his creation._

 _...Forget it. Just tell me about your quarry._

 _... Double retracted his sword and laid his hand down as an uncaring gesture to the Reploid,_ _滴_ _e's just some schmuck named Persius...Apparently he was a part of the Maverick Hunter's Green Biker Unit? I just don't see why you care so much..._

 _You imbecile...This Reploid shall be my test subject into discovering whether or not its possible to completely override a Reploid's entire personality with that of another. If I prove successful, then I'll be one step closer to returning my precious Zero to the state he was meant to be._

 _Zero this Zero that...I measured him up myself, and he ain't shit. Whatever you want done, I could just do it myself! Double pointed at his chest with one thumb and a grin, but when Wily turned away he quickly scowled._

 _Just bring this Reploid to my other operating table and return to your duties. Wily picked up his tools and went back to work on Sigma._

 _...Yes sir... Double glared crossly into Wily's back as he bent down and put the Reploid by his hip. After a few seconds he walked away, leaving the doctor to take a few seconds thinking about his 'new' creation._

 _Now...what would be a good name for him? Hmmm...perhaps Dynamo would work._

 _ **Eight months later...**_

 _In his down time, Wily managed to create another body for himself on the chance that his Serges one would fall in battle. It took some time for his viral consciousness to reach 'Isoc', but when he did he was on the move immediately. Having heard of the demise of Sigma at Doppler Town, he hurried to the charred outskirts of the city and recovered the one hand that remained of the Maverick and brought it back to his old laboratory to begin working on it._

 _Honestly, its a good thing we're partners...Otherwise you never would've gotten a second chance, let alone a fourth, Sigma. Wily grumbled as he quickly got to work building a new frame for Sigma to occupy._

 _Not long into his work, he was interrupting by the sudden, silent arrival of Dynamo, who waved his hand up and called out with a rowdy_ _添_ _o!_

 _Ah, Dynamo. You're back sooner than I expected. How goes your mission?_

 _My Shadow Corps have already earned the government's trust, just as you predicted they would. And Double's said he's hard at work preparing to infiltrate the Maverick Hunters. Not like that means anything coming from HIM... Dynamo brushed a hand out from his shoulder and smirked._

 _Good. Once Sigma's back up and running, we'll move on to my next plan._

 _Dynamo leaned up against the operating table and crossed his arms, leaving Wily's eyelids sunken in annoyance as he commented,_ _添_ _our track record's 0-3 so far doc. Not for nothing, but you SURE this'll be a hit and not a miss?_

 _Shut UP Ba- Wily bit his tongue and shook his head, taking in a couple swift breaths to relax both body and mind._

 _...Yes, I am positive this'll work. But just in case, I have already thought up a contigency plan to go along with this one._

 _That Gate fellow? I don't know if he can be trusted to help us out._

 _It's a gamble I'm willing to take, but one that shouldn't need to be necessary if you and the others do your jobs correctly._

 _Hey now...I'm the best there is at what I do doc! Dynamo pulled away and slapped Wily on the back nice and hard,_ _的_ _f anything, I'm the only one on your team you CAN trust to pull this off!_

 _...We'll just see about that. Wily mumbled to himself._

 _ **Nine months later...**_

 _After the Repliforce War came to an end and Wily had managed to construct yet another body for Sigma, the doctor and his Maverick comrade went on a trip to a secret fortress buried deep underground. Age had rusted the place up terribly, forcing the two to navigate the hallways on floating platforms._

 _So this is one of your old bases doctor? Sigma inquired._

 _Yes. My third one to be precise. And if I'm wagering things correctly... The two passed through a door and ended up inside a wide-open warehouse. Lying on the ground in a crumpled heap were the parts to the peace-keeping titan, Gamma. Unlike everything else, time had been kind to it, and each part was in as good as shape as it was coming off the production line._

 _Bingo. That right there shall be your ultimate body, Sigma. Wily extended his hand out, only for Sigma to chuckle right in his face._

 _...Is something the matter?_

 _That ancient relic is the ultimate battle robot? A basic Maverick Hunter could take it down with one grenade. I think desperation has started to make you senile, old man._

 _You may mock it now, but rest assured...Gamma is not a toy! Even way back when, it was invincible against Mega Man's entire arsenal of weapons...Were it not for one glaring flaw, I would have felled him in battle then and there!_

 _And yet here you are... Sigma scoffed playfully._

 _...Look, with the technology of this era at my disposal it will be a cinch to repair and upgrade Gamma to match X's power. And with you at the helm, Gamma's glaring weakness shall be a thing of the past!_

 _Fine...I will use your 'ultimate robot' as a vessel if necessary, doctor. But this new body shall be more than enough to handle X when the time comes._

 _Keep underestimating Thomas' creation at your own peril Sigma. It has become increasingly difficult to bring you back from the dead ever since Doppler hit you with that anti-viral program. Who knows if I'll be able to do this again._

 _Then you better pray that our plan works. Otherwise, I shall haunt you until the day you die, just like you haunted me all those years ago..._

 _Hmph...You're welcome to try and drive me insane Sigma. But a man who has surpassed death no longer has reason to fear it..._

Time after that seemed to pass on by in the blink of an eye. The Eurasia Crash, working with Gate, meeting Zero face-to-face, reviving Sigma...all of it led to a grim reminder of just how mortal of a man Wily truly was. His body may have been a machine, but his mind would forever be that of a human's. Once 'Isoc' lost the strength to function, there was nowhere left for him to go but to the great beyond...

Looking into the darkness for as long as he had would not prepare him for what was next. The pain and suffering that would await him in the next life would be beyond compare. For the first time since Mega Man had his buster charged and aimed at his face, Wily felt cold...and scared.

...Is this...really the end? Wily closed his eyes and squeezed his hand around the hole in his chest, 展hat was it all for? A life of hard work and accomplishments...all so I could die still chasing your shadow, Thomas...

Wily turned his head to the right, and standing at his side was the pale blue hologram of Dr. Light. The grip around his chest grew tight as he bit his lower lip and let out a feral growl.

Why...? Why are you here? What? Do you want to rub your achievements in my face one last time?

The hologram closed its eyes and sighed, _的_ _ts been a long time...Albert. You haven't changed one bit._

Wily's eyes widened and he slowly began to turn his head away and relax, ..You knew it was me all along, didn't you Thomas?

 _Our bodies may change, but our souls do not._

...How metaphysical...coming from a roboticist... Wily groaned, then poked his head up a bit to ask, 的f you knew all along, why didn't you tell him?

 _Perhaps a part of me didn't want to believe that you'd hold so stubborn of a grudge against me...or perhaps I simply didn't want X's conscience to be weighed down by the phantoms of the past. You and I are merely reflections of two brilliant minds who have long since perished...I will not pretend that I understand what either of our real selves would think._

Hmph... Wily looked away again.

 _Albert...Our time has passed us by. The future belongs to the humans and Reploids of this era._ Dr. Light spoke in a calm, delicate voice as he kneeled down at his friend's side.

Wily swung his body over and swatted his hand through the hologram, stamping it down on the ground while looking rather furious, 的ts not fair! You've left a legacy behind that'll be remembered for centuries regardless of whether or not they recall your name! Meanwhile all I've done is left behind a deadly virus and enabled a sociopathic machine to seek genocide against our race! That's all I'll be remembered for Thomas! Not for my brains, but for my acts of TERRORISM!

Left panting, Wily fell to the ground and swung his hand up in front of his eyes. He began to whimper and cry, bubbling out in a pitiful voice, 的-It's not fair...All...All I ever wanted was to surpass you Thomas. How could I let things get this bad...?

 _...It's not as terrible as you think, Albert._ Dr. Light closed his eyes and remained optimistic in his voice.

Wily punched the ground and exclaimed, 徹h fooey! Don't try and lighten my mood Thomas...You're better than that.

The hologram stood up and looked down the dark corridor, _迭_ _ight now, your son is charging into battle alongside my own. He's not seeking to destroy the world as his father intended of him...Instead he wields his blade proudly in the name of justice._

Dr. Light turned with a smile as bright as newly bloomed roses, _滴_ _e's become a real hero, Albert._

Wily opened his eyes while he felt a different kind of hollow feeling forming in his chest. As he reached for the spot where his heart once was, warmth began to swell within his body. With his hand trembling, a smile began to creep along his face while his eyes sealed themselves shut.

...A hero huh? Wily lied relaxed on the cold floor as the last flicker of life began to leave his robotic shell, 滴mm...maybe...I never needed to surpass you after all, Thomas...

The hologram, after one last look with his head hung low, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Running through the lab in pursuit of Sigma, Zero grimaced and then planted his feet on the ground to stop. Twisting his head back the way he came, he was called out to by X in a worried voice, 的s something the matter Zero?

...No, it's nothing, Zero closed his eyes and spun around, catching up to his allies in a single bound while declaring, 鏑ets go!

After a couple more seconds of running, the trio had finally caught up with Sigma. The lumbering giant had to resort to leaping around like an agile monkey just to evade his pursuers, but now that X had him in his line of sights he refused to let him flee again.

Get back here... X swung his buster back and charged it up to full power, swinging it out and unleashing a blast twice the size of his body as he screamed, 鉄IIIGGMAAAAA!

Sigma twisted his head back as he tried to leap over a large chasm, the light from the charged shot growing ever closer. It collided into the upper left part of his back and sent him spiraling into the chasm. The trio reached the edge right as Sigma crashed into the ground like an anvil.

They leapt down and landed ten feet away with their weapons aimed up, watching cautiously as Sigma raised his body off the ground. It was a little unnerving to see him just rise without the use of his feet, especially once his hollow eyes were glaring into their own with that same cocky grin he's always had.

X aimed his buster at Sigma's head and remarked, 添ou're not going anywhere Sigma. This time I'll delete you once and for all!

 _X...? ...X...Yes...X...You are...X..._ Sigma gargled nothing but incoherency, leaving X to pause and weigh his options for a second.

Take the shot X! Zero insisted with a forceful voice.

Something's not right... X's buster began to twitch, and so too did Shina's own trigger fingers.

 _This sensation...? Oh come on...You've gotta be kidding me! I already got the friggin' artifact piece!_ As she swiftly became exasperated at the increased sense of dread in the room, Shina joined the others in watching as Sigma became enveloped in the dark violet aura.

The Maverick's mouth stretched open until his jaw locked into place, with his voice screaming out in spiteful anger, _泥_ _ie die DIE...JUSTDIE X...! I...I am..._

A tornado of cataclysmic darkness erupted around Sigma's body. X and Zero raised their weapons overhead and charged them up to full power.

Oh no you don't! Zero exclaimed as he brought his blade down and unleashed a towering wave of energy at Sigma. The wave met up with and wrapped around X's charged shot, creating a swirling sphere of pure power that darted straight for its target.

A hand burst through the tornado and grabbed onto the center of the projectile and proceeded to squeeze it like a grape, causing it to burst. The darkness died down, wrapping itself around Sigma's body as an aura. His body was changed, completed and renewed to its former glory. But it wasn't without differences. He wore an armor reminscent of the one he confronted the trio with inside Zero Space, but not only was it now golden but it had a more sharp and regal appearance. The shoulders were broader and glistened with the radiance of the sun, the back of his gauntlets were covered with thorns, and his grieves wore the same gemstones Gate's armor did on the kneecaps.

Cracking a grin as his eyes glowed a bright red, Sigma lifted his head up and stared into the eyes of his foes as they began to retreat a step back in surprise. With a flex of his thoughts, a red cape of energy flowed down from his backside, finishing off his imperial appearance.

I...am SIGMA! And I have returned from the depths of hell once again to claim what is rightfully mine! Sigma bellowed out in a voice devoid of shakiness. He enjoyed a bout of rigorous laughter for a few seconds after, then crossed his arms and took an imposing stance towards the trio, grinning from cheek to cheek.

Looks like our fates are intertwined more than you thought Zero...As long as you live, so too shall I! Sigma boldly declared.

That's what you think! I'll send you to hell again and again Sigma! Zero swung his Z-Saber out in both hands and his body flared up in a rage.

X...Poor naive X. Once again your idealism has gotten another Reploid killed. But I must thank you...without you, I'd have never obtained the power of that fool's armor for myself! Sigma said with twisted glee in his voice.

You've taken a life for the last time Sigma! I won't let you stay alive for a second longer! X swung his buster up and grit his teeth.

And you...outsider-

I'm sick and tired of dealing with you Sigma! I'm kicking both of your sorry asses right off this planet for good! Shina twirled her pistols around and then crossed her arms out before the chest, the barrels of her weapons locked straight onto Sigma's face.

The Reploid blinked twice and then shrugged, throwing his arms out beside his hips and levitating off the ground just from a surge of power alone. His body became electrified, and random bolts fired off in all directions to rip their surroundings to shreds. With power so great is left the whole facility trembling, Sigma stared down his foes and exclaimed, 摘nough games! X! Zero! I shall strip you two of yours powers and achieve my full potential! This world...is mine and mine alone to control!

This world belongs to everyone who chooses to live in peace! It doesn't need a parasite like you around any longer! X declared.

Then come and die for your so-called 'peace'...X! Sigma roared.

 _Next Time: Clash of Titans_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Vengeful Virus**

Without another word spoken between him and his foes, Sigma clenched his fingers inward and thrust his fists out at the empty air. The lightning that surrounded him condensed into a string of nine orbs of varying sizes that all split off into groups of three to assail his targets.

The trio split off backwards and let the projectiles' focus in on them. X observed as they spun around his body in circles to try and confuse him, an act that proved most futile as the Hunter switched right into the Blade Armor and cut them all down in a single circular stroke. Zero dealt with his bunch in a similar manner, only much faster.

Shina, however, let the orbs dance around her body for a few seconds while her scouter traced their pattern of movement. When the orbital rings were constructed out of a thin string of aura, she charged up one pistol and fired through the first orb that crossed her path, the bullet absorbing the electricity and sending it right back at Sigma. The Maverick winced from the first shot, then dodged the next two, moving closer with every evasion.

Flashing a grin after the second dodge, Sigma then warped straight to Shina's location and smashed her chin with an electrified uppercut. Her jaw snapped shut and her body was sent upward, where Sigma hit her with a second, diagonal uppercut to the gut the moment he landed.

This rough blow was enough to send her hurtling back dozens of feet in an instant, but before her head reached the ground X sped over with his Shadow Armor and caught her in his arms. After getting her propped back on her feet X turned to Sigma and narrowed his eyes. The Maverick drew his right arm out slowly and waved his fingers towards him.

X sprinted across the floor and leapt at Sigma when he was only a foot away, switching to the Blade Armor mid-leap so he'd have his sword at the ready. Sigma zipped back five feet and bent his right arm by the hip. X swung his sword out and unleashed two giant waves of energy that grew bigger the closer they got to their target.

But by utilizing all the strength he could muster into one straight punch Sigma, shattered the energy to pieces with only minor scratches to his knuckles. He then let the momentum of his swing carry him closer to X, where the Hunter then managed to duck right under his left hook.

Leaning out, X dashed beside Sigma and left spikes of ice shooting out in his wake. The Maverick leapt up then pushed back, placing both arms before the chest and stringing together electricity between them. After a second he unleashed a soundless rectangular pulse down at X, who at the moment had his back turned.

"I've got your back X!" Zero leapt down with a shell shield bound to his right arm and held back Sigma's assault with an unyielding stance. X gave a brief nod of thanks and then sprinted over his partner, dashing straight at Sigma with another wave of ice spikes emerging in his wake.

The Maverick held his ground and thrust his electricified right hand out towards X's head in anticipation of where he'd end up. But at the last second, with only the static crackling from Sigma's fingertips grazing his head, X froze in place in an upright position.

He then dashed up at mach speed and unleashed a faster wave of ice spikes that shot out and overwhelmed Sigma with a painful, bitter frost. His body was then frozen over, suspended mid-air like a statue of grotesque design.

X drew his sword back and let gravity handle the weight of his attack as he descended. As the edge of his blade began to carve into Sigma's head, the ice cracked apart and was vaporized to nothingness from the heat of the Maverick's volcanic rage.

With a violent roar, Sigma clocked X in the chest with a room quaking punch. The plate of his armor cracked and left X winded, where Sigma then proceeded to smash that same spot with three consecutive punches, doubling down on the damage inflicted upon it.

For the final blow, Sigma flung his hands back with the palms pressed an inch apart. He swung them out, only for a big and bright laser to block his path. X gasped a couple times then made a hasty drop to the ground while Sigma tilted his head right towards Shina, his current assailant.

She wielded two laser cannons with barrels as long and thin as her arms while beginning a drummer band's march towards Sigma. With a stern glare locked onto his location she alternated between which cannon she fired from, making her shots brief in order to preserve energy.

Sigma swatted aside the beams with the backs of his hands for a couple seconds, forcing Shina to cross the barrels of her cannons together and fire a dual-sided spiral beam. The two halves combined into one and gained increased speed and size.

Sigma swung his right hand up and shrouded his body with a barrier of sporadic electricity as he held back the beam with nothing but the center of his palm. His body kept getting pushed back until he rammed into a steel pillar, at which point the beam fizzled out and took his barrier down with him. Now left with a trembling hand covered in smoke, the Maverick clenched his fingers into a fist and growled as he raised it up.

Then he vanished and flew straight over to Shina's location, towering over her with an imposing scowl amplified by his dark aura. He swung his arms down to try and ensnare her, but like a rat she was too nimble to be caught up in such a simple trap.

Ducking under both arms and gliding just a teensy bit forward, Shina flew up between the gap in the limbs and chest and booted Sigma in the face with her toes. She then flipped upside-down and fired off a single small rocket into his face, using the propulsion to put some distance between them.

She landed hunched down with her arms crossed before the face as she switched to a pair of SMGs. Her eyes widened in shock as Sigma lunged through the bright smoke with minor burn marks on the face. The Maverick thrust his right hand out and sent a massive bolt of electricity hurtling towards Shina.

Her mind raced as she mustered up the aura needed to suppress the thousands of volts being flung her way. But time was of the essence, and she hadn't the speed to succeed in her task. Bracing herself for pain with eyes squinted shut, Shina was rescued from danger in the nick of time by X and Zero's intervention, as the two worked in tandem to deflect the electricity with their blades.

The bolt, split in twine, shot through the walls opposing the Hunters and left a big hole in their place. Their arms rattled for a second, and then the crossed their blades to point them at Sigma. Their actions were a sign of defiance to their enemy, and a show of protection towards their comrade.

Sigma glared at his two mortal foes with years worth of disdain boiling up inside of him, as though at any second that rage would explode and tear apart anything in its path. Growling like a feral tiger, the Maverick charged straight at his foes and swung his arms out from his shoulders.

X and Zero readied their blades but were too delayed in the draw, as Sigma's arms rammed right into their heads and knocked them both to the floor. Then, pausing for just a second, Sigma put all his strength into his right foot and ensured that every inch of it would go into kicking Shina in the face.

When she had been lifted off the ground, Sigma pounded both his fists into her hips and kept her held in place as hard as he could. Grinding his knuckles deeper with every twist and turn of his fists, Sigma vowed to make the girl suffer as much as her body could handle the pain before breaking in half.

Shina gasped and was too paralyzed to fight back, with the nerves in her metallic skin flaring up to a very lethal degree. As Sigma gloated about the suffering her inflicted upon his helpless foe with bellowing laughter, he ignored the anchor that was wrapping tight around his waist.

Only when the loud clang of the anchor locking itself into place reached his ears did the Maverick deign to give what was happening a second thought. But as he shifted his head back to peer over his shoulder, he could only watch as X switched to the Ultimate Armor and kicked his thrusters into overdrive.

Tearing Sigma away from both Shina and the ground he stood on, X used the Nova Strike to double his speed and drag Sigma across the floor for a hundred feet. X let go and did a quick U-Turn, jetting straight towards Sigma and ramming him with his eyes narrowing with a tranquil fury.

Sigma was blown away before he could even blink, flying straight up into the ceiling at such a velocity that even the thick hardened metal couldn't stop it. He got stuck in a perfect mold of his body, his head rattled to the point of forcing his eyes shut.

In a couple seconds he opened them back up and began to tear himself free limb by limb. Upon landing on the ground he was greeted by Zero, who attacked with a violet downward swing that the Maverick blocked with his right arm. Sigma grunted as Zero's pressure pushed the arm back towards the chest and caused the elbow to start cracking.

Pulling away with one sudden swing of his arm out, Sigma widened his eyes as the blade drew closer to his face and then forced it aside with a slap of the wrist. Zero flowed with the rejection of his attack and was able to fight back swinging with the same speed as he normally would.

Sigma raised his right up and blocked the edge of the blade with his palm, suppress the energy together with just a thumb and pinky. Zero let go of his blade and leapt up, aiming his buster down and taking a couple shots at his face. Sigma recoiled with his focus lost on holding the Z-Saber, and Zero dropped down and grabbed it before it began to fall.

He then smashed his other fist into the ground and summoned a rain of laser beams to bombard Sigma. The Maverick swung his arms at the beams but was unable to fend them off, and was in fact losing ground with every strike he endured.

"GRRRAAAA...ZEEERROOO!" Only when his rage spewed forth from his iron lungs like an uncontrollable stream of magma was Sigma finally able to turn the tides against his foe, for as he swung his right arm out with all his might a barrier of energy similar to the ones Gate used appeared and blocked all attacks without a scratch.

Zero paused and stood up, swinging his blade out as Sigma cracked through the barrier by plunging his hand through the center and crushing it. His body became electrified like a thunder cloud, and from those sporadic bolts around him Sigma summoned a few green orbs that were flung straight at Zero.

Zeor cut one down in an attempt to get them all at once, but the other two zipped right over his blade and then plunged down into his body. His body became overloaded with a painful electric current that dropped him to his knees and left him flashing green and white all the while.

Sigma then ran over and hoisted Zero up by the neck, with the robot struggling to pry himself free by grabbing onto his foe's fingers. Sigma's grip tightened, and Zero's resistance faltered in an instant.

"Don't worry Zero...you'll be reunited with your father soon enough!" Sigma boasted with an unhinged cackle drilling into Zero's ears afterwards.

X, after helping Shina stand and earning her thanks, faced Sigma and saw his partner in jeopardy. But before he could head off into battle, Shina grabbed him by the back of his shoulder and exclaimed, "Wait a second X!"

The Hunter looked back as she said to him full of faith, "Zero can hold out. There's something about Sigma that's got me worried."

"What's up?" X loosened up a little and turned to face her.

Knowing the urgency of the situation, Shina scrambled to explain herself, at some points speaking ahead of her own thoughts, "Sigma absorbed Gate's armor...Ummm, so if we don't defeat him quickly, then he'll probably figure out how to use all its powers. And so far we haven't even put a scratch on him."

Shina pointed at X and said, "You've already burned up a lotta energy fighting Gate. I don't think ya got it in you to damage the armor like that again."

X raised his buster and wrapped his other hand around the barrel. Without a loss of will in his eyes, he lifted his head at Shina and told her, "No, we don't need to repeat it."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. Sigma was able to adapt the armor into his body. And what did Gate say the armor was made out of?"

"Nightmare...Souls..." Shina's eyes slowly opened up as she let out a long, realizing "Oooooh!"

Then with a snap of the fingers before the chest her thoughts became one with X's, "Sigma's not been revived for long, so..."

"He doesn't have any power to rely on besides that armor..."

"Which means that...!"

"The parts of that armor I broke when Gate wore it..."

"Should be thinner than the rest!"

Shina clapped her hands together and got a giddy smile, but eased up a bit when she realized, "But wait...do you remember where Gate's armor was damage?"

X turned his head and gestured one finger at Sigma's stomach, "If we can focus on that point with everything we've got..."

"Say no more!" Shina swung her arms out and summoned a pair of rocket launchers. With the skin of her hips folding up she began to grimace and her arms stiffened up, making it difficult to grip her weapons.

"You don't need to keep pushing yourself Shina. Zero and I can handle this." X held her back with a gentle raise of the hand, but even with a weary look in her eye Shina smiled and held her weapons up next to her shoulders.

"Sorry X, but like a star I'm gonna keep going until I burn out!" Locking some ammunition into the barrels, Shina exclaimed, "I'll rescue Zero, then you can get 'em up to speed while I hold Sigma off!"

Before X could voice his doubts at the makeshift plan of attack, Shina had leapt right over him and flew straight for Sigma. Firing off a salvo of three rockets each, she guided their path around Zero's body and specifically made a point to strike the Maverick in his hips.

The multitude of explosions in quick succession rattled Sigma's body and loosened his grip on Zero's neck. The robot quickly fought back with a burst of power, smashing both his fists down onto his foe's wrists to force him to let go. Zero ducked as he fell to get out of Shina's way as she whipped her body around and smashed a jet boot into Sigma's face, repelling him back with a burst of energy.

She didn't let up with that one kick and struck him dozens of times in a relentless flurry, exhausting the aura she had pooled into her leg to keep Sigma away. The blows had the presence of gnats and Sigma soon grew tired of dealing with them, so he grabbed Shina by the ankle and grounded her with a straight down slam.

She landed on her left hip and the pain stung right up her spine, crippling her ability to fly away. Sigma raised his fists up and proclaimed, "You should have fled when you had the chance, outsider!"

As he brought them down with the force of a sledgehammer, Shina swung her right rocket launcher up and pressed down on the trigger hard enough to break it. Right as Sigma's fists smashed through the barrel, the enegry from within exploded upon him with a blast as big as his body.

Shina was swept up within the underside of the blast and was blown a couple feet along the ground, the scraping contact doing little to help the state of her hips. The moment she stopped she tried to push herself back up to her feet, but fell flat on her back and grumbled, "...Maybe I am getting a little in over my head now..."

Sigma rose up surrounded by electric spheres and his arms crossed. With a flex of his brows he sent the orbs flying hurtling at Shina like a swarm of meteorites. Shina kept her eyes wide and focused, feeling no concern for her safety as she knew she HAD to survive for Alex's sake.

And as a reward for her continued determination, Zero intercepted the projectiles right in the nick of time, cutting them down with a swathe of numerous slashes that appeared to only be one. The robot gripped his blade in both hands and filled it with energy. When the blade was sharp and pristine, he swung it out and sent a wave of energy flying straight for Sigma.

The Maverick evaded it by warping a couple feet to the left, only for X to come ramming straight into his gut with a Nova Strike. The Hunter repelled off his body and then fired a charged shot towards the same spot. Sigma recovered just in time to punch the attack through the center, but the aftershock left his arm trembling.

Sigma retaliated with a continuous bombardment of electric orbs, each one unable to reach the Hunter as he glided circles around his body and peppered him with more charged shots. Sigma gripped his hands tight and whipped his body around a full 360 degrees, spraying bolts of lightning all around and managing to strike X with a couple.

Zero fended off the few that went his way with an iron-clad swing of the blade, then glanced back at Shina as she braced her hips with aura to help stand.

"X wanted me to tell you not to attack Sigma's weak point right away," He commented nice and swift, "Otherwise he'll piece together our plan."

"Sure thing," Shina swung her right arm out and drew a sniper rifle as long as her arm, then flashed a smile at the Hunter and said pleasantly, "After you?"

With a brief hum and nod Zero dashed towards Sigma and announced his presence with a yell of, "Hey Sigma, behind you!"

The Maverick was enticed to turn around, his face meeting the fine razor edge of the Z-Saber as Zero leapt. Sparks went flying into Sigma's eyes and blinded him as though he had stepped into a wildfire, and on his way down the robot had every intention to lance his enemy's forehead straight through.

But before even the tip of the blade could reach, Sigma swung his hand up and grabbed onto Zero's hand, slipping the blade between his fingers without harm. He held a hand to his face and smirked, chiding his foe with a malicious, "Don't you **ever** get tired of failing, Zero?"

"This coming from the guy who's about to die for the sixth time?" Zero grinned and pressed his legs together, swinging them straight down while yelling, "You're old news...SIGMA!"

His feet smashed into Sigma's chest and caused him to let go, allowing Zero to drop to the ground and draw his blade at his side. Rising up, he dug the edge of his blade into Sigma's gut and kept going until he was at his chest, where he used his feet to repel away from his foe's electrified swipe of the hand.

"All you are is a parasite feeding off what scraps you can to survive. You can't beat us!" Zero and Sigma collided blows with each other, as Zero's sword swings met up with Sigma's furious swipes and sent electricity spraying across the skies for a brief moment.

"I only have to beat you once Zero...That's the only victory that matters to me!" Sigma coiled his fists together and smashed them into the Z-Saber with all he had. Zero held the dull edge up and weathered the blow with only his knees shaking.

"You're delusional if you think you can beat us!" Zero proclaimed as he back off and spun around, dragging his blade across the atoms in the air to ignite it on fire. The heat of his blade grazed Sigma's chest, causing the embers to fly into his eyes and blind him once more.

Though he cried in agony, Sigma fought back with a relentless assault upon the robot's body, pummeling him across the shoulders to try and force the grip on his blade to loosen.

"You talk a big game Zero, but last we fought you were at MY mercy, and I have only grown stronger!"

"Yeah well so have I! Allow me to SHOW YOU!" Zero leapt and swung his sword back, slamming it down as Sigma crossed his arms to block. The Maverick's knees buckled under pressed, his feet cracking the ground around him as Zero continued to pressure him.

"GRAAAAAAAHH!" Sigma pushed his arms out and unleashed a giant wave of electricity that ripped through the ceiling above Zero as it sent him packing. The robot landed on his feet with one knee dropping towards the ground, a show of weakness that Sigma was more than _glad_ to exploit.

He shot a large electric orb at Zero's feet and caused him to topple over on his stomach and lose the grip on his blade. Sigma leapt forward and tried to smash his fist down upon Zero's head, only for him to roll aside and pick his sword back up in the process. Grabbing tightly onto it and rising up halfway, Zero spun around and cut at Sigma's ankles twice, offering little more than a mild distraction.

As Sigma looked down, his back was struck square on by a charged shot from X, who floated twenty feet away and prepared another attack the instant his first connected. Sigma threw his left arm back and blocked the attack with an energy barrier, then swung his head to the left as Zero stabbed his sword up towards his chin.

"You're both relics of the past, doomed to be forgotten in due time! We Reploids are the superior race, we shall claim the future for ourselves, and do away with all who are beneath us!" Sigma held up to X's assault and once more had wrenched his hand around Zero's wrist, hoisting him off the ground.

"You think you're so tough Sigma...?" Zero grit his teeth and didn't buckle down in the slightest, even as the pain flared through his arms and down to his head.

"You can never beat us because you don't have anything worth fighting for! You're just a tyrant who preys on the weak!"

"Oh? And just what are **you** fighting for Zero? Surely you can't expect me to believe that you're still after that 'perfect' world Iris spoke of?! That world is nothing more than a pipe dream!"

"I'll fight until evil like you is wiped off the face of the Earth for good! And if there's obstacle too great for me to overcome, I'll overcome it anyways! That's why..." Zero squirmed a little, trying to wiggle free from Sigma's grasp. The Maverick chuckled and tightened his grip further.

"I'm not letting you escape this time. You shall remain at my mercy until I've squeezed the life from your eyes!"

"Heh...Who said I was _trying_ to escape?" Zero grinned as his eyes flared open upon the declaration of, "Shina, NOW!"

A glimmer reflected off the front of Shina's sniper, which she had held perfectly straight for the last few minutes with a barrel full of every last drop of aura she could muster. Pulling the trigger, her body recoiled five feet back as a bright, shiny bullet pierced etched a scar in the air and penetrated straight through Sigma's skull in a second.

The germ-like grime in his head splattered back onto the ground as he reared his head back and screamed so painfully it shook the foundation of the laboratory. Zero, freed from the shackles of his foe, dropped to the ground and spun around. Bending down, he stabbed the Z-Saber behind him and impaled it right into the weaker metal in his abdomen.

Zero twisted the blade in as he looked back and exclaimed, "Finish him off X!"

X charged straight at Sigma from behind with the buster cocked at the right side of his body. He began to charge it up as the jewel on his forehead glowed bright, turning the color of the energy from blue to a sunset orange. But then his buster began to draw in the lingering traces of Shina's aura from the bullet's trajectory and the bits of Zero's Z-Saber that were left behind as he pulled his blade out.

Combined, the three energies created a swirling neon cocoon that encapsulated all the hopes and dreams the trio aspired to have, a burden that X was more than glad to carry on his shoulders as he lunged straight at his nemesis. Sigma roared, blasting all the electricity he could in the form of lashing streams that pushed X back with every whipping motion they made. X bashed them aside with the edge of his buster and kept running, even as the other bolts penetrated his armor.

"X!"

"SIGMAAAA!" With emotions flaring between the two fighters, X plunged his buster through the hole in Sigma's gut and pointed it up towards his head. His buster burned so white hot that Sigma lost the strength to fight back and started gasping in pain.

"Time to end this once and for all!" X exclaimed.

"End this...?" Sigma weakly laughed, "Don't be ridiculous X..."

Even at the crux of his demise, Sigma grinned a most sinister grin and proudly proclaimed, "I...will never be a memory! Our destinies are forever intertwined! So long as you live and breath, I will come back time and time again until one day...I take my place as the rightful ruler of this world!"

"...Fine, then I'll always be here to stop you." X pulled the trigger without a second's hesitation, ripping apart the innards of Sigma's chest before decimating the entirety of his head in one seismic blast of energy. X ripped his buster out and his eyelids began to droop, culminating in him starting to fall to the ground.

As Sigma's echoing laughter exited the laboratory, X was caught and helped up by Zero, who eased his weary mind by saying, "Take it easy X, its over."

"Yeah...for now..." X pushed himself up and dispelled all armors, looking his friend in the eyes as Sigma's hollow body shattered upon the floor.

"He'd be stupid to come back again. Besides, not like there's much of the Sigma Virus left for him to latch on to." Zero rationalized.

"It doesn't matter...I know he'll find a way to return. But that's fine...cause I know you'll always be at my side Zero." X smiled afterwards.

"Heh, as long as I don't go dying on you again..." Zero closed his eyes and cracked a tiny smile, then stopped offering his friend support. The two looked up and saw Shina collapsed on the floor with her limbs sprawled out and her mouth letting out a tired groan.

As they walked over Shina turned to look at X and asked, "Heeey...can ya not tell Alex I almost got myself killed?"

"Uuughh...my bones are gonna be aching for weeks..." She closed her eyes and deflated out with a sigh.

"Want me to carry you back?" X offered while extending his hand down.

Popping her eyes open, Shina shot right to her feet and shook her head, then grimaced and hunched over as her hips began to sprain.

"...I-I'll...try and hold up as best I can." Shina forced a grin and gave a shaky thumbs-up.

"Well we've got a long walk ahead of us, so no complaining." Zero sternly remarked as he began to move.

With a drawn-out sigh Shina hung her head and followed the two through the laboratory. It was an arduous journey to be sure, but soon they ended back at Gate's laboratory. The place felt so empty and lifeless thanks to the two corpses that littered it, so the trio wanted to make it past there as soon as possible.

Zero stopped to look at 'Isoc' for a couple seconds, noticing that there wasn't a hint of life in his eyes. Closing his eyes and looking away down-trodden, he walked forward and never glanced back.

Before he exited the room, X looked back at Gate's body and paused. Gripping his hand into a fist, he broke away from his allies and ran over to him. Before Zero could notice what he was up to, X had already picked up and cradled Gate's corpse in his arms.

"X, what do you think you're doing?" Zero grumbled.

"He deserves a second chance. Don't try and dissuade me Zero." X gave his stance without a glance towards his friend. But Zero held onto his shoulder and forced him to look his way.

"Look, all I'm saying is that if you're going to do this, you better be 100% certain that this is the right thing to do."

X closed his eyes partway then looked down at Gate for a few seconds. Zero let go of his shoulder and allowed him to keep moving forward. Allow he could do now is sigh and shake his head, exasperated but sadly understanding of his friend's plight.

After crawling through the remainder of the laboratory, the trio climbed their way out of the crater they entered from and were back at the Crash Site. Shina collapsed onto her stomach, with every last joint in her body screaming like a crowd of banshees. X looked up to the sky and saw that it was still a terrible mixture of orange and violet...But in its own way, it was beautiful now.

"Alia, can you hear us now?" Zero contacted her through his communicator.

"Loud and clear, Zero." Her voice came through crystal clear, but not from that far away. Surprised, the Hunters looked on ahead and saw Alia standing ten feet away with her eyes trembling and half a smile on her face. Guarding her from the rear was Signas, who saluted the triumphant heroes' return.

Alia turned to X and covered her mouth with one hand before running up to him and bending to take a closer look at Gate.

"Is he...?" She was hesitant to ask.

"Yes..." X hung his head and looked away from her in shame.

Alia stood up and placed a hand on Gate's chest. It was cold, but not like how a robot's skin would normally feel. Instead it was like ice, lifeless and deadly to keep holding a grasp on. Alia glided her fingertips down the side of his body as she pulled away and then looked X in the eyes.

"...What happened?"

"He had his armor ripped off by Sigma, and the pain shut him down."

"Sigma?!" Alia gasped in fright.

"Yes. W-" X bit his tongue and looked at Zero, who glanced back and gave a subtle shake of the head before he continued, "...Isoc had revived Sigma and set him on his. But its fine, we took him down again. He won't be showing up again for a long, long time."

"Still, the fact that he has managed to crawl out of the grave this time is troubling." Signas commented, having approached the two without making a sound.

"C-Commander...? I'm surprised to see you here..." X remarked.

"I couldn't just let Alia wait for you to come back alone," Signas smiled for a moment, then returned to be dutiful, "But that's not important. X, does this mean Isoc is dead as well?"

"Yes. He was also terminated by Sigma." X responded.

"How unfortunate. Then that means the question of who he is and what he wanted will forever remain a mystery." Signas sighed.

"That's probably for the best," Zero remarked with his arms in a cross, then like a natural changed the subject to X's perspective, "X, don't you have something you want to say?"

"Right," The Hunter nodded his head and then looked Signas in the eyes, "Commander. With your permission, I was hoping you'd assign Alia to work on reactivating Gate."

"W-What?" Alia was taken aback and left agape in shock. Signas barely raised a brow as he asked, "Repairing a Maverick. That's quite unlike you X. Care to explain?"

"I think Gate could do more good for the world than he could harm it. And right now, we could use all the help we could get to clean up our world."

"...I see no problem with this," Signas glanced to his right and murmured, "Alia, however..."

X looked at her and held Gate's body up, "I know you can do it Alia."

"But...should I?" Alia looked Gate in the eyes, remembering the hatred that she saw in the them the last time they had seen each other face-to-face. She didn't want to repeat that. She didn't want that cycle to begin anew because she got overzealous believing in X's belief in her.

Yet, even with her body tingling from head-to-toe, Alia gulped down her hesitation and murmured, "...No...I said I wasn't going to run away from my past anymore."

Gripping her fist against her chest and staring at X with a passionate fire brewing in her eyes, she proclaimed, "I have to at least give it a try. So...thank you for trusting in me X."

Shina got up and scratched the back of her tilted head, inquiring to the merry lot, "Well I'm glad ya all sorted that out but...How are ya gonna explain to the rest of the Reploids what happened with the Nightmare Virus?"

Alia and X looked at each other while Zero wasn't the least bit surprised the subject came up now. Shrugging her shoulders, she commented in a way that was attempting to convey that she wasn't trying to be mean about this, "Gate's gonna be public enemy number one. Is that really what you want him to come back to?"

"I'm sure I can work something out," Signas commented right away, "After all, its not as though everyone knows that Gate was behind the virus."

"I guess, buuuut..." Shina had some more qualms with the plan, particularly the fact that they're piling more lies atop of the ones they gave regarding what happened with Eurasia and Zero's revival, but with a pop of her lips she sealed them up tight with a sigh.

" _Guess I shouldn't worry too much about it. I reckon X and the gang'll find a way to make it all work it out eventually."_

After watching the Hunters communicate between each other for a little bit, Shina looked skyward and tucked her arms behind her back before whispering to herself, "Just like it'll work out for us...Right? Alex?"

 _Next Time: Hope for Tomorrow_


	18. Final Chapter

**Final Chapter: The Pain of Yesteryear**

And so our heroes returned to Maverick Hunter HQ triumphant and tired. They had fought hard to earn their victory over the Nightmare Virus, but now they could rest easy knowing that the Reploids of the world will be able to go about their lives without having to worry about their fear getting exploited for nefarious ends.

...However, the world was still in shambles. Poison lingered on the ground and seeped into the clouds, and though the casualities could have been far greater in number Gate's actions had managed to thin the Reploid population quite a bit. And with all that needed to be done still weighing heavily on his mind, X knew he had to consult with Zero in private...

"What did you need to talk about X?" Zero asked as he rested against the side of a column and tilted his head towards his friend. X was quiet at first, but the way he hung his head led Zero to quickly deduce that he was very deep in thought about something.

Giving him a gentle prod by repeating his name again, Zero watched as X's head jolted up with eyes wide and his expression a little embarrassed.

"Sorry about that," He apologized without any shakiness in his voice, "I was just...wondering what would be the right way to say this."

There was a definite unease lingering in the air as X said that. Zero couldn't get a single read on what his friend was thinking, thus when he began to open his mouth to speak Zero's arms tensed up against his chest.

"This whole ordeal with Gate and the Nightmare Virus got me thinking, and...he might've had a point." X paused and gave Zero a cautious look, only to find him staring right back with a glare that he'd usually reserve for Mavericks.

But there was no hostility meant in that. He was just so taken aback that he had assumed his friend hit his head and had his processors flipped in reverse. With a sigh and a given benefit of the doubt, Zero sunk back into the column and said hesitantly, "Keep going..."

"There **are** too many Reploids in the world, and a lot of them don't do anything to contribute to society. But...thinning our numbers isn't the answer."

"...You were starting to sound like Sigma for a moment there." Zero commented bluntly.

"I know." X nodded his head and had a tinge of regret in his voice. Then, after a brief period of silence he looked his friend in the eyes and told him, "We've done a lot for the world as Maverick Hunters...But we could be doing so much more... **I** could be doing so much more."

As X laid a hand on his chest and pressed the fingers tightly into a fist, Zero turned his head the other way to make sure no one was coming as he whispered, "What're you getting at X?"

"...I'm going to retire from being a Maverick Hunter for a while, Zero." X closed his eyes as he spoke that, not wanting to see the look of intense shock on his friend's face as he swung his head right back and exclaimed, "Retire?!"

X nodded a couple more times and didn't speak a word. Zero's brows lifted up and then arched down as he lowered his head and let out a sigh. Rubbing the back of his head he asked, "..And when you say 'a while'?"

"Who knows?" The robot brushed his shoulders up and looked away with a humored chuckle, 的t's not like I'm going to put a time limit on this Zero.

"I don't even know what you're planning to accomplish here X." Zero said with exasperation.

"There are so many Reploids out there who don't know how to handle the powers and emotions they were created with. Think of how many lives could have been spared from the Nightmare Virus or how fewer Mavericks there'd be if the Reploids out there were more like you and me...Or Alia and Signas...Or even Iris."

"...You didn't have to use **her** for a comparison X." Zero turned his head aside and cracked a tiny scowl.

"I-I'm sorry..." X said right away.

"...But it gets the point across. And if that's what you're after, then you'll hear no objections from me." Zero waved a hand out and pulled away from the column. Then with a smile, he turned to his friend and said, "I can handle things on my own here."

"You sure about that?" X said with a genuine look of concern in his eyes that left Zero astounded.

"What? You think I can't handle a few Mavericks every now and then?"

"Heh, I know you'll be fine Zero." X smiled and bent his left fist up. Zero bumped his arm against X's and looked at him straight on.

"It'll be a little less exciting here without you around all the time though."

"I'll keep in touch as much as I can." The two parted arms and Zero crossed his back against the chest with a slight grin on his face.

"Yeah, don't be a stranger X...and good luck." He whispered that last bit under his breath, causing X to tilt his head and wonder what he had said. Even though he couldn't decipher what Zero had said, he still smiled.

At the other side of the building, Shina was on her way to check up on Alex. Her legs were as heavy as lead, making it almost a miracle that she was able to crawl her way to her destination. But what she saw upon arrival was something that lifted her spirits right up and made that weight feel as empty as hot air.

Alex was standing up in front of the capsule performing some arm stretches over his head. He had gotten another red shirt for himself and cleaned off any last traces of slime from his skin. He looked a lot more youthful and lively than he ever had before thanks to a slight reddish glow in his cheeks and a lack of hostility in his eyes.

As she peeked around the corner with a wide-mouthed smile, Alex tipped his head to the left and said in surprise, "Back already? It hasn't even been an hour..."

Leaning back to make sure no one was coming, Shina walked into the room and explained, "Yep! Everything's all wrapped up here. Gate's defeated, Wily's dead, and Sigma's been revived."

"Wait, Wily?" Alex poked his brows up and dropped his arms to the hips to give his full attention to Shina.

"Yeah, turns out he was Isoc the whole time. Whodathunk?"

"I always suspected those two were one in the same..." Alex cupped a finger and thumb around his chin and gave it a light rub.

"You and about a couple million others..." Shina whispered while covering the sly smirk on the side of her face as she turned her head.

"Did you say something?"

"Not at all!" Shina snapped right back ahead and expertly changed the subject, "Sooooo...ya feeling all spic-and-span now?"

"Mmmrrrrrmmm!" Alex leaned back until he heard a loud crack from his spine, at which point he shot forth in the completely opposite direction and grumbled, "Still need to iron out some kinks, but hopefully that'll all go away once we're human again."

"That'll be nice! I missed being able to eat, sleep and sweat!" As Shina clasped her hands before her chest she blinked a couple times and gave the boy a curious glance, "Hmmm...actually, is there any chance I can keep the sweatless benefits of being a robot?"

"No." Alex bluntly remarked as he straightened himself up and pivoted his arms around by the shoulders.

"Oh poo..." She puffed her cheeks up and spat air down to the left.

"So, are you ready to go?" He asked as he slid his hands down into his pockets and tilted his head towards her.

"Yeah..." Shina replied in a dour voice, "Guess there's no need to stick around any longer."

"So you said goodbye to everyone?"

With a perplexed look in her eyes Shina murmured, "N-No...I came right back here."

"Well it'd be pretty dickish of us to just leave unannounced. Besides, we might wanna pop back in and check on these guys sometime, so wouldn't **you** want to leave on good terms?" Alex had a tiny smile as he spouted what he assumed was the obvious, but as Shina stared at him with eyelashes fluttering for a good few seconds he pointed at his chest and chuckled.

"W-What? Is something on my face?"

Shina dove right at him and began to tug at his cheeks, swiftly turning his expression sour as she puckered her lips and accused him, "Alright! Who are ya and what've you done with the real Alex?"

With eyes as wide as grapes, Alex raised one finger up and flicked it against Shina's forehead 'gently' while saying, "Cut it out will you! I'm perfectly fine!"

Shina rubbed the sore spot on her head with both sets of fingertips and then cracked her eyes open with a smile, "Yep! No one but you'd respond like that!"

"...I'll choose to take that as a compliment..." Alex lowered his hand against his hip and then waved his other one out a couple times in a circle, "Now enough lollygagging. Lets go find the others and say our goodbyes."

The two left for the command center, and thankfully for them X and Zero had already gone back there to speak with Signas. But before X could say a word the two's entrance took away all attention from the subject. Signas looked at X for a brief moment and could be heard saying they'd talk later before turning towards Alex and commenting, "I see you've made a fast recovery Alex."

"What can I say? You had good commodations." Alex crossed his arms against the chest and grinned.

"I guess this means you two are preparing to leave?" X voiced with some slight dismay.

"Yeeeaah..." Shina's head slumped with her sigh, "I really, REALLY wish we could stay longer and help ya out with the repairs but-"

"Nonsense. You helped us out enough. Both of you did." Signas interrupted before she waded too deep into her own pool of self-pity.

"I'm pretty sure I only managed to double your workload." Alex remarked with an apologetic undertone to his voice.

"I won't pretend to understand what happened. Just know that none of us blames you for any of that." Signas nudged at Alex and winked, but that only somewhat lightened the boy's mood.

"Still..." He sighed under his breath, wishing he could at least fix this mess.

"We'll clean up the planet someday. You two just worry about stopping that tyrant." X gave the two a bit of his hope with that remark, and with his head perking up Alex replied, "Trust me, we'll trash him just like any other Maverick."

"That's the spirit." Zero remarked proudly, then looked at Shina and noticed her gaze was fixated on the place Alia would normally sit.

"If you're looking for Alia, she's down in the laboratory working on repairing Gate."

" _Ex-CUSE me?!"_ Alex was one second away from calling out the Maverick Hunters on this terrible idea, but caught himself on the realization that it'd probably be rude to do so. Instead he just voiced with mild displeasure with a couple light coughs and focused more on Shina's predicament.

"Well we can walk down there if you want..." He said in a half-assed manner.

"No, that's alright," Shina said, much to Alex's surprise, "Just give her my thanks for me, ok?"

"Will do," X said before he approached the two and held his right hand out, "You're welcome to come back anytime. We should have the planet cleaned up by then."

Alex and Shina shook his hand at the same time and nodded their heads with a hum. Then they departed on their merry way, with Shina waving back a couple more times before the door sealed up behind her. With a soothing sigh she placed that hand near her chest and reflected upon the memories she gained from this world. There were many trials to overcome this time around but she still felt happy knowing that things turned out alright, and that she'd be able to carry these wonderous bonds in her heart forever...

But the most important bond gained amongst them all...

"Hey, you coming?"

Shina looked down the hall and saw Alex looking back with a patient tap of his toes on the ground. Twisting her lips into a smile and curling her fingers up into a fist between her chest, she gave a firm nod and dashed after him. The two took the elevator to the bottom floor, and once outside Alex immediately wrapped them up in their usual mode of travel the air bubble and shot right up towards space.

The moment they breeched through the venomous clouds and the atmosphere beyond, Shina was giddy with excitement upon hearing her own heart beat again. She crossed her hands against the center of her chest and listened to it pound like a drum for a few seconds while the blood rushed to her cheeks and made her face a tomato-y shade of red.

"Oh don't you EVER leave me again!" She exclaimed as though her organ was a lost puppy. She then looked up and saw that the bubble hadn't moved far away from the planet, and Alex was standing still in the center of it with his arms tucked into his pockets and his eyes gazing towards the moon.

"Alex?"

She snuck in closer and started to hear him talking to himself at a low decibel, "Alright...alright Alex...you can do this."

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he turned around, but right as he exhaled his face was even with Shina's and turned what should've been an easing of the mind into a disrespectful series of coughs that dampened her face with spit.

"You could've said something!" He exclaimed in exasperation.

"S-Sorry..." Shina stammered while using the bottom of her shirt to dry her face, 添ou kinda took me by surprise too.

Glancing at Shina with half her shirt up like that caused Alex to look away, the blush in his cheeks causing his eyes to appear even whiter than normal, "Y-Yeah well it's fine...Y-You didn't mean any harm."

Alex's gaze kept twitching back until her shirt had dropped back down, at which point he swiftly went back to looking calm before she caught him peeping. Then with a cough dry and forced coughs he remarked, "Anyways...Getting back on track here."

"Oh yeah, why'd ya stop?"

"Because there's something I need to get off my chest before we head out. Something...really important." Alex looked down, and Shina could sense a lot of tension coming from his aura.

Taking a couple steps back and laying her arms by the hips, she patiently looked at his face as he took a few more seconds to compose himself. His skin wrinkled with the inward curling of his lips, his eyes squinted tight, and his body was trembling.

Shina opened her mouth but couldn't even utter a syllable before biting her lower lip. Alex lifted his head up and looked her square in the pupils, refusing to let his gaze move away from them for even a second.

"Its about...my past. I want to...no...I NEED to tell you what happened to me," Alex tilted his head to the left and remarked, "This...will be my first time talking about this with another person. So if you have any questions, feel free to interrupt anytime."

"Are you...sure?"

"Yeah..." Alex's eyelids sank a little bit before he bobbed his head a couple times and reaffirmed with more oomph in his voice, "Yeah, positive."

After a few seconds of silence Alex popped his eyes wide open and murmured, "Ok...lets start from the beginning...I guess."

" _I don't remember much about my life before I was three, except that me and my parents were on the move a lot. We lived in this small two-story house that we took everywhere with us, and drove around in a car that was...Not that comfortable, but as long as I had a blanket over me it was as cozy as my bed."_

" _My parents loved to stargaze a lot, so I'd end up seeing a lot of pretty sights. But when I was just five years old, the stars came crashing down...literally."_

" _I don't know how it happened, or why...but one night, when I was so tired my parents left me to rest in the car, a small, small comet came crashing down upon the hill they were stargazing atop of...And killed them."_

"A-Are you sure it was a comet...?" Even having seen it through that vision of the past, Shina couldn't believe that to be true.

"Positive." But his words carried such a heavy weight of certainty to them that it was very hard to doubt.

" _The tremors rattled the car I was in and woke me up. I remember crying a lot, and my face was so drenched I'm shocked I didn't choke on my tears. But for as long as I cried, it wasn't my parents that came to comfort me. No...instead I was 'rescued' by the man I'd come to despise the most in the whole entire universe."_

"Prometheus..." Alex muttered that name with scathing disdain while his face began to tense up. Trying very hard to tip-toe around the subject, Shina cautiously inquired, "The Greek God who gave fire to humanity?"

"I doubt it. It's just something he gave himself out of a sense of egotism and megalomania." From that one sentence alone, Shina knew the story was going to take a sharp turn for the worse. Alex's face became pale and drained of even a hint of happiness, leaving behind only a charicature of despair.

" _On my world at least, adoption had been outlawed as an option for parentless children. Its been the governments sick and cruel way of controlling the population for at least a decade. But as I later found out, Prometheus had manipulated Congress AND the President to pass this law for his own ends."_

"Wait...Congress AND the President?!" Shina gasped and her pupils shrank in fear, "Who...who was this guy?"

Alex crossed his arms and stated with the utmost sincerity in his voice, "He's the leader of a secret shadow organization concealed from sight from the CIA, FBI, etc, etc...From what I could gather during my time there, his organization had existed even before the founding of America as its own governing body."

"That's insane. Who is God's name let 'em have that much control over the world?!"

"No benevolent God, that's for sure," Alex lowered his head and parted his legs a bit, feeling stiff in the knees, "The scariest thing isn't that he could control the government, its that he did it without bribes or threats. He was like a supercomputer given flesh, able to pinpoint how every individual person thinks, reacts and behaves in milliseconds and turning that knowledge to his advantage at every given turn."

"You...saw him in action?"

"Not like he gave me a choice..." Alex twisted the left side of his face up and grumbled through his scowl.

"...I'm sorry, continue..." Shina pulled back a little with a twinge of grief burrowing into her heart, even though she had many, many questions to ask still.

" _...Anyways, his men took me out of the car and brought me back to his base in secret. I probably spent over an hour suffocating under a cloth bag, and by the time I was free my face was too dry to produce even a single tear. I was left gasping for air as that man introduced himself and pretended to welcome me into his home."_

" _He smiled and tried to shake my hand, but with just one look into his eyes I knew I was facing down the devil himself. I screamed and begged to see my parents again, but with an ever persistant smile he hammered the cold hard truth into my mind like a frozen, rusted nail."_

" _Your parents are dead kid...I'm your new owner now."_

" _I kept screaming and calling him a liar. But I wish back then I could have cursed him out, and called him a 'fucking rotten bastard'. How dare he...how DARE he say something like that a child while having a straight face!"_

Alex's fists tightened and the air bubble trembled violently. Shina panicked and leaned over to Alex to hold onto his shoulders, which seemed to help calm him down as he loosened his hands and bit his teeth instead to release his anger.

"It's ok...it's ok Alex...He's not here to hurt you." Shina comforted him but was already starting to tear up, her herself resonating with the rage Alex felt with every word he spoke.

The boy laid a gentle hand on his left fingers and brushed them over his shoulder while telling her, "Im...I'm fine..."

Once she had backed off all the way, he continued on with that dreadful story.

" _I can hardly make out the story he weaved about my parents' demise. I was so broken I couldn't even think straight. A rage was building, burning inside of me...I had never even hurt a bug at that point in my life, but I wanted to wrap my hands around that bastard's neck and strangle him until he couldn't breath..."_

" _...He must've peered into my heart with those devil's eyes of his and saw that fire growing, cause the next thing I remember he said 'Excellent' and had his men haul me away to a penitentiary. It was a single room, one bed, one bathroom...That's it. That's all he expected me to find comfort in."_

" _The anguish of that day drew me to sleep, but little did I know that the pain was only just beginning. The next morning I didn't even get a chance to wake up normally. I was shocked awake by a couple thousand volts of electricity and found myself ironed to a table for experiments, my arms strapped down by the thickest leather available."_

" _All I could hear were murmurings behind the glass window between Prometheus and one of his scientists. They talked about injecting me with an alien lifeform's DNA and using scientific procedures they invented to make the power of that DNA manifest within my body."_

Alex paused and peered up at Shina, who was so frozen stiff from the story thus far that she looked like she had seen a ghost. Letting out a sigh, the boy asked, "Look, I know this story's seemed pretty unbelieveable so far, but I need you to bear with me on this next part..."

"Ummm, question?" She shakily raised her right hand up much like a student would.

"You've had my permission."

"...What kind of alien was it?"

"...Saiyan DNA. It was Saiyan DNA."

"I-I'm sorry...?" Shina choked on her own words for a second there and then blushed. Not that Alex could blame her for that reaction.

"I could only piece together some of the details from Prometheus but like...There was some sort of dimensional merger between my world and the Dragon Ball world, and before Goku and the others could use the Dragon Balls to try and fix the problem Prometheus and his men managed to ambush them and take them all down with guns."

"..." Shina went dead silent for a few seconds and then started shaking her head.

"No no no, there's something really, really weird about all that!"

As Alex started looking mildly peeved, Shina went on a bit of a tangent, "Goku shoulda had Ultra Instinct, and Picollo and Buu wouldnt've gone down to measly bullets. Y-You sure you don't know more about-"

"I'm very damn positive and that's besides the point anyways!" Alex stamped his foot down and rocked the bubble with a terrible earthquake that knocked Shina off her feet.

Before she fell onto her back, she was caught by a soft, fluffy cloud that gently brought her down and then disappeared into mist. Alex glanced aside and tucked his hands into his pockets, giving her the chance to stand up and apologize for her misbehavior.

"...Apology accepted." He murmured after hearing her say 'Sorry!' for the thirtieth time in a row.

" _Point is, Prometheus now had the DNA of some of the strongest warriors in the multiverse in his possession and wanted to use some of it to create an army of super soldiers. To that end he put in place the 'No Adoption' law to leave children helpless and alone so he could swoop them up and use them for his experiments. Since I was one of his victims, he must've been planning on eliminating my parents at some point or another to get to me."_

"But why you? I mean...you weren't an Elemental Overlord back then."

"Fuck if I know..." Alex put it bluntly.

" _The injection of DNA into my body was the easy part, especially since I was too constrained to squirm. But then the experiments really began. I was hit with high voltage and put under high stress situations. Prometheus' theory was that after a while of being stimulated by pain, the Saiyan DNA within in me would get stronger and overtake the other cells in my body."_

" _I was the 'lucky' one. There were other children in that facility who couldn't even make it past the first tests. Some of them mutated because the DNA bonding process went awry, and were thrown into the incinerator with multiple monkey tails or a great ape skeleton spilling out their backsides. And I had to watch this happen everytime as 'motivation' to be successful."_

" _What a load of shit...What the hell was I supposed to do? It was all happenchance that I'd even make it out of those insane experiments 'alive'...But I guess even with nothing to live for, I was too stubborn to die like the rest and kept going through torture after torture for a whole year until finally...It was successful. The DNA had bonded with me and gave me a big increase in strength, speed, and durability."_

"And then that was Prometheus' undoing, cause now you were strong enough to do something about it!" Shina spoke up optimistically.

"If only it were that simple..." Alex sighed and shook his head.

" _During all those experiments, Prometheus tampered with my brain and made it so I'd obey him if he played a certain tune. It didn't matter if it was something insane like jumping off a cliff and hoping the fear of crashing would awaken the ability to fly, I HAD to listen to him. And that bastard took FULL advantage of that right away..."_

" _Prometheus had screwed up, and some of his files had been leaked to a Senator Dark. Prometheus knew that if what was contained within those files were deduced, he'd be screwed. His organization would be exposed, and he'd be executed as a traitor of the state. So with some careful planning and some damn coincidental timing, Prometheus discovered that the Senator was going to his family's yearly reunion...Where EVERY member of his family was confirmed to attend."_

"Oh...oh my god..." Shina gasped and covered her mouth in both hands. She wanted to cry but couldn't, for what she suspected was horrifying to the point of leaving her paralyzed.

" _...So he sent me out on my first test run. Equipped with nothing more than a 9mm and just enough bullets, he had me kill every last member of the Dark family in cold blood. With the added strength of my Saiyan DNA, there was nothing any of them could do. It was a perfect, senseless slaughter...And I wish I could have just kept on forgetting about that day."_

"You...forgot about that?"

" _The trauma of that incident was the tipping point. That night, all alone and cold in my 'room', my mind shattered apart and created my second personality to protect me from the trauma. Like a parasite, he fed on my hatred towards the depravity of humanity and grew stronger, but because of him I could at least pretend to be happy again...For a time."_

" _When I turned eight years old, Prometheus up and decided to let me start living at my old home all alone. He put it amongst a mountain range isolated from the rest of society, figuring I could use the place as 'training grounds' whenever he didn't require my help in taking care of his problems."_

" _For the first time in my life, I got to act like a child should again. I was able to play, run around, and lay in the comfort of my own home. But...it was all meaningless without my parents beside me. Without their love and support, my actions rang hollow...I became nothing more than a zombie governed by routine...That is, until the day a certain red plumber showed up on my front doorstep, and whisked me away to freedom."_

"And that's when you became the Elemental Overlord..." Shina ended off the story with an awe-struck whisper, then with her hands trembling before her chest she remarked, "Wow...When I think about all the trials and tribulations you went through, it really makes your sense of justice all the more admirable Alex."

"Admirable nothing..." Alex grumbled at first, before erupting into a fit of self-loathing rage, "I didn't become the Elemental Overlord to help anyone but myself! I wanted the power to make bastards like Prometheus pay for the sins they committed, so when it was offered to me I grasped it without a second thought! I'm a selfish brat! There's nothing _admirable_ about any of that!"

Shina retracted a couple steps back and held a hand up near the center of her chest. She reached out but then pulled back in, the fire radiating from Alex's body too boiling to the touch.

"You wanted to stop evil...Even if your reasons for doing so were selfish, they're still just reasons Alex. That's nothing to be ashamed of, I can promise you that." Shina looked at him with a dim, chipper smile, and that seemed to cool the inferno surrounding his body. He looked aside, ashamed of himself, while the girl he loved continued to try and lift his spirits.

"And besides, you eventually got payback against Prometheus, right?" Shina watched as Alex grimaced and turned further away, causing her to question in a more pressing tone, "..Alex, you did go back and stop him, didn't ya?"

"...No, he's still alive." Alex murmured.

In a sudden burst of disbelief Shina asked, "Why?!"

"Weren't you listening to me?! He'd just need to sing a couple notes and I'd be under his control again!" Alex swung his right arm out and looked absolutely furious.

"You're so much stronger than him Alex, I don't think he'd be ABLE to control you anymore!" Shina widened her eyes and pulled back, realizing that she was being a bit ridiculous in her assertions. She was making Alex's trauma and sorrow seem like such a trivial obstacle to overcome, but words alone can't fix what's been ingrained in his mind for over a decade.

"...And besides, you're not alone anymore. I'd be right by your side to shut his trap if he tries anything funny!" Shina gave her full assurance with a bright, brimming smile.

"Shina..." Alex whispered, taken much aback by her abundant generosity. Yet with a groan he swung his head back and remarked, "But...I'm also worried that if I let my desire for revenge get the better of me, then-"

"You'll become just like him?" Shina looked at Alex with a cross glare and told him off, "Bullshit. The Alex I know would never ruin the lives of helpless children to satisfy his megalomania."

She took two steps forward and then swept Alex's hands up, clasping them before her chest while looking him in the eyes, "You're the one who lived Alex. You're the only one who can avenge them."

"...Even if I stopped him, it wouldn't get rid of the pain."

"No, but it'd be a start. And I'll do my darnedest to help you through the rest Alex." Shina smiled and then pulled his hands in between her chest so he could feel her warm heartbeat.

"We'll mow down everything that stands in our way with the power of love!" Only she could make something so eye-rolling cheesy come across as genuinely heartfelt.

Through the thickness of tension covering his body, a laugh broke past Alex's lips for a second as he leaned his head back and said, "The power of love? Is that really what my life's boiled down to?"

"...B-But, I guess...I guess I can accept that," With a tiny smile he pulled his hands back to his hips and turned aside. His eyes watered and began to trickle down his cheeks as he faced Shina and said, "Thank you...for listening Shina."

"Alex, you..." She looked with concern and began to stretch her arms out for a hug. One tear dropped onto the back of his left hand, and his mouth opened up a little bit before he took his shirt and dried his face off.

When he was done he grinned and gestured his right hand up and said, "So...Why don't we finish piecing the artifact together and hunt down the Cosmos Drive at long last?"

"Oh, right!" Shina stumbled to whip out the last piece she acquired along with the shrunken four other pieces. As she laid them all out in her palms, they began to shine with a translucent azure light. To the shock of Alex, the shrunken pieces returned to normal size automatically and joined the fifth in levitating into the air in a detached circle.

After a couple seconds, the pieces slammed together into a single neon ring that aimed towards the moon and shot a thick beam of aura straight past it. Staring at the light with utter awe, the two watched as a twinkle of starlight shone extra bright all of a sudden amongst the dark blanket of space.

"That must be our destination..." Alex murmured.

"The location of the Cosmos Drive is there..." Shina's arm hairs stuck up on end while her skin trembled with goosebumps. The artifact dropped into her hands and she clasped it tight, unable to let go.

Alex stood with his back to her and turned his head to look over his shoulder, where he then held his left hand out and said, "Shall we go?"

"Uh-huh! Onward! To the Cosmos Drive!" She swung her right pointer finger out much like a captain on a ship would, and with a smile and nod Alex sent the bubble they were in barreling along the path the aura guided them towards...

… _._

… _._

" _It seems as though I have won our little wager this time, old friend."_

" _..."_

" _Love and hope triumphed over rage, and quelled the rabid beast for the time being."_

" _..."_

" _And even moreso, the world of Reploids has undergone some rather interesting changes. Its almost a pity that I will not be able to see how their fates unfold from here on out."_

" _..."_

" _But alas, as much as history changes, some things shall always remain the same."_

" _...Fufufu..."_

" _Is something the matter?"_

" _Heheheh...HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!"_

" _...My my, I guess this loss affected you more than even I could have foreseen."_

" _Loss? No...I haven't lost yet. Its just so...so_ _ **fascinating**_ _how this can keep happening. I can try and divert the rivers of time as much as I want, but no matter what it always comes down to this moment. The Elemental Overlord and his 'prize' are heading to the same location as they always do, and all my attempts to dissuade them have been rendered futile."_

" _Then you are prepared to greet them with open arms, I presume?"_

" _I've done it enough times as is...What's hopefully one last encounter to add to the pile?"_

" _You've done enough to warrant their hatred being aimed your way. Better be careful, or he'll turn your body to ash."_

" _He...that beast will never conquer me. I REFUSE to die to the Phoenix of Destruction."_

" _Yes. Comparing your powers is like day and night...All you must do is eclipse him before he burns you."_

" _I'll do more than eclipse him. I will snuff out his flame and leave his heart cold with despair once more. I will terrorize and hurt him until he's on the ground begging for death, only to grant him an eternity of solitude in a prison that he himself earned. Yes...but even that won't be a fitting enough fate. Fufufu...I look forward to our metting, Phoenix of Destruction. We will settle our fatal feud on_ _ **MY**_ _world."_

 **Clash of the Elements Part 4 EX Story 7...**

 **THE END**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I want to open this segment with a massive apology to everyone who had been reading this and the last story. You'll have noticed, if you've been following throughout all of Part 4 EX, that my usual upload schedule is one chapter every three days, maybe four depending on how my schedule's looking. Well there were a lot of points during these two stories where my uploads took longer, sometimes with a whole week between chapters.

There were a few things factoring into that. Some complications with my work schedule that meant I felt overwhelmed and needed more time for certain chapters. Writer's block getting in my way even though I had the outline all ready to go. Then there were a lot of moments where I had depression and couldn't even get out of my bed for hours on end.

I won't go into much detail on this stuff obviously, but for any of you that have stuck around and read the series, whether you're just here for CotE or Maverick Hunter X, you've deserved much better from me and I'm deeply sorry for feeling like I've failed you all.

That's why I'm taking a month break from writing so I can try and get things in order, not just for myself, but also for this series. I've definitely contemplated the possibility that quitting writing might help a lot of my problems, but I also just don't want to give up when I'm more than 60% of the way through the overall story of CotE. There's not much left for Part 4 EX, but beyond the end of that I don't really want to discuss what's coming up right now. Just know that the next story takes place in the Touhou verse...Which admittedly could be a big clue for who the main villain of this part is, but I can't just leave you guys blind about what the next story is on the chance you aren't following me.

As for Maverick Hunter X...Well, I originally had intended to just go to X6 since that was as far as Inafune had planned to rewrite, but as I was going through X4 and especially during X5 and X6 I realized I just can't ignore X7's...questionable storyline. Between whiny pacifist X and the lack of fleshing out for Red Alert, I feel I have to at least do a Maverick Hunter X7 to finally bridge the gap to X8's plot. Now as for when that'll happen, I have no idea. I've done three Mega Man X stories over the course of a year, so I'd like to take a long break. But this WILL happen someday, so look forward to seeing my interpretation of Axl and the start of the New Reploid conflict sometime next year.

Beyond that, thank you, THANK you for reading whoever you are. I wish I got some more reviews so I could get to know my audience more, but the number of views I get for each story has been more than enough to convince me to keep going even though I know my work can be heavily flawed a lot of the time. I'm not going to give up on this story, but...This time I do really need the break, so I'll see you all again next year...In the land of Gensokyo. Take care, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


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